In Between The Lines
by DisneyKd4
Summary: The ultimate Dramione story, something I have searched for for years and have decided to write myself. Here it is, the story of Dramione's relationship throughout the seven books, without changing anything in the books. Everything will be backed up, everything will still happen, we will simply be reading in between the lines. Will be updated every Sunday
1. Chapter 1

"Walk Mrs. Granger," Professor McGonagall says, watching me as I run past her through the halls. "Be careful"

"Sorry, Professor!" I say over my shoulder, slowing down till I turn a corner and than I begin running up the stairs to the astronomy tower. "Come on, come on," I whisper to myself, as I take the stairs two at a time.

I reach the top of the tower, the wind practically blowing me over the side. I turn in a circle and spot him leaning against a pillar, smirking while he watches me. "Hey, Granger," He says, turning the smirk into a smile. He rolls on his heels to stand up straight as I run towards him and wrap my arms around his neck, pushing him back against the wall.

"Hi.. Draco.." I reply, kissing him between the words. He pulls away and I stare at his cloudy eyes that look sad, worried, and slightly angry.

"I'm sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

**It has been a very long time since I have written a long fanfiction, and this story is why. This will go through all seven books, jumping between Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger's POV. It will eventually be a love story, but just like the title suggests, I am not changing anything in JK Rowling's story except the Epilogue and the events of Cursed Child. Almost every extra information I place in the story will be backed by something JK has written, so this story is a HUGE disclaimer, the only thing I own is Draco and Hermione's side of the story, and even some of their interactions will be what JK wrote.**

 **Enjoy**

 **In Between The Lines: Chapter One**

Draco's POV:

There were a lot of children my age wondering around Diagon Alley with their parents, looking and pointing at everything they could. Some of the parents just looked at the children with an amused expression, and other's were looking around with the same look of awe as their children, those were the adults Father steered us away from. Rightfully so too.

I had already been to Diagon Alley on several occasions with my mother so I didn't bother to look around at the stores like the rest of my future classmates, I only held my head up like Father and followed in his and mother's footsteps. Like Father said, there was nothing interesting in this part of the alley anyways.

"Now, Draco," my mother began, stopping on the side of the walk way and bending down to fix my cloaks and hair as Father stayed upright like a respectable man, he never bent down for anything. "You remember Madam Malkin? Just go into this shop and tell her who you are and she'll know what to do." I keep from rolling my eyes at my mother's protective antics, I already knew that people knew how to treat me once they know who I am, she doesn't need to remind me. "Your father will be next door getting your books while I go look at appropriate wands for you." She placed a hand on my cheek and kissed my forehead before walking away with my father.

I walked into Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, looking around the empty and messy store for it's owner. Mother and Father didn't get their robes from here, and I don't see why I had to either, at least there wasn't anyone else in the store with me.

"Hogwarts student?" I turned at the voice and saw Madam Malkin, a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve, smiling down at me with a measuring tape draped over her shoulder.

"I'm Draco Malfoy," I told her, standing up straighter and meeting her eyes the way Father does. She raised an eyebrow at my stance but said nothing else, leading me into the back of the store and telling me to stand on a stool.

"Mrs. Kipling will take care of your measurements. Do you know if your mother wants more than just your Hogwarts measurements done?" Madam Malkin asked as another woman comes into the room and starts measuring me.

"How should I know?" Madam Malkin nodded and left, heading back to the front of the room.

The woman working did not say anything to me and did not look up to meet my stare as I made sure she did her work properly. Mother had brought professional designers to the Manor to take my measures last year, so I knew how it was suppose to be done. I had to make sure that this girl didn't mess up.

After a few minutes, the doorbell announced another customer and I heard Madam Malkin address the customer the same way she did me. I didn't hear the boy's reply, but she lead him to where I was so he must have a surname she recognized also.

He was a scrawny boy, smaller than me, with a thin face, black hair that was very messy, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses that were held together by some clear, thin piece of paper. His clothes were odd and unfamiliar to me, but he seemed a little uncomfortable as Madam Malkin took his measurements, probably wanting his robes done professionally also, so I decide to talk to him. Father said to always become friends with the people with important surnames. As Mrs. Kipling began to pin up my long black robes, I turned to the small boy.

"Hello," I said. "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes." He said, slightly dumbly. Perhaps he was related to the Crabbes.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at wands." I drawled, letting the boy feel comfortable as I let him know we were all going through this, he was not the only one that was told to do things on his own even though our parents had the capability to do it themselves. When the boy still doesn't say anything, I changed to the topic that always makes Mother's friend's children talk. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." The boy looked even more uncomfortable now, and slightly angry. Perhaps his parents preached rules like Mother. Or he had his own broom and was thinking badly of me for not having my own. "Do you have your own broom?"

"No."

"Play Quidditch at all?" I tried again.

"No."

"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree." The boy remained quiet. I began to pity the poor bugger, his parents must tell him to be quiet when they aren't around, the Notts do that too. "Know what House you'll be in yet?"

"No." I refrained from asking if he can say anything else, Mother would reprimand me if I was so rude.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" I scoffed at the stories Father told of the Hufflepuffs. The boy mumbleed something I do not hear. I almost give up making conversation with this boy, thinking that even Goyle and Crabbe would have said something about Hufflepuff or the other Houses. I really hoped Hogwarts wasn't going to be filled with people with the same mental capabilities as Crabbe and Goyle. That would be awful.

I saw a large, something, walk by the window. At first I thought it was a beast it was so big and hairy, but when it stepped into the light I saw a face plastered in between the hair. He was hideous!

"I say, look at that man!" I called out, nodding towards the front window. The oaf was holding two ice creams and seemed to be motioning at them and at the boy next to me.

"That's Hagrid," The boy finally spoke, sounding pleased to be associated with that man. "He works at Hogwarts."

"Oh, I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper." The boy corrected me, becoming defensive of the large oaf. I was beginning to think Father would be very upset if he saw me talking to this boy now.

"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage- lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he is brilliant." Great, I'll be the only truly brilliant wizard in all of Hogwarts, no wonder Father hates that school so much, I thought.

"Do you?" I sneered at the boy, no longer wanting to try with him. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" I accused.

"They're dead." He stated shortly, sounding mad now but I don't care. If they were the sort to leave their child with a half beast half man that couldn't keep himself clean they obviously were not of proper status.

"Oh, sorry." I said, trying to appear at least a little sympathetic, I knew many kids with parents that were dead, our parents all fought in the Wizarding War anyway, this boy was no one special and he shouldn't use his dead parents to get things he wants. I wondered if his parents even fought in the war. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean." At least there was that.

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them never even heard of Hogwarts until they get their letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyways?" I asked, needing to know so I can ask Father about this boys family and if I was right or wrong to speak to him.

"That's you done, my dear." Madam Malkin interrupted the boy from replying, and they left the store with just the boys measurements while I stayed behind to wait for my robes to be finished and to muse over that odd conversation. After a few more minutes, Father came into the store carrying my books with Mother next to him. Mother hurried up Mrs. Kipling and then the three of us were walking back into Diagon Alley.

"Did you get my wand, Mother?" I asked her.

"No, that's your job, I just needed to speak to Mr. Ollivander about my own wand, we'll go down to get yours after you look at the brooms."

"He doesn't need a new broom, Narcissa. Besides, the boy will only spend too much of our time looking at the things he isn't allowed to even bring to Hogwarts."

"I could sneak it in, Father!" I suggested, throwing back my shoulders and standing up tall to show I could accomplish that.

"No." Father snapped at me, turning away from Mother and I, striding towards Knockturn Alley. I was not allowed to go with him until I was older.

"Come on, Draco." Mother took my hand and lead me to Broomstix, looking over her shoulder to make sure my Father had not turned back to us. "Go on inside, browse all you like and come up with a list of things you want for next year. I'll be in Twilfitt and Tatting's when you are finished." She kissed the side of my head after I've made sure no one was looking, and then walked towards her favorite store.

I hurried inside of Broomstix, pushing aside a group of boys my age with their noses pressed up against the window. They looked at me in awe as I go into the store looking like my purpose was to buy the whole place. It was so enjoyable to make duller children amused by my superior status. Once inside I turned in a circle to look around the shop, it was one of the most expensive stores in all of Diagon Alley so there was not a lot of people to bother on any occasion, which made it quite embarrassing when I bumped into the only other person in the store besides the workers.

"I'm sorry," I said immediately, bending down to pick up potions and charms books that had fallen out of the strangers hands. I recognized them as the ones Father had bought for me. "Hogwarts too I assume?" I asked before looking up as the stranger hurried to grab the other books that had fallen. I felt the weight lift from my shoulders now that I knew I didn't bump into an important older wizard that would recognize me and tell my father I was in here.

When I looked up I don't see the child I was expecting to see. Instead of a boy, in nice robes and combed back hair like myself, I was looking up at a young girl, definitely my age, with wild brown hair, doe brown eyes, and a smile showing slightly bigger than usual front teeth but they only served to make her grin wider at me. She wasn't wearing wizarding robes, but most wizards that can't apparate to Diagon Alley were wearing muggle clothes so that fact doesn't waver me from standing up and extending my hand.

"I'm Draco." I told the girl, shaking her hand after she readjusted her books. She stood up tall and smiled, shaking my hand.

"I'm Hermione, thank you for helping with my books." I shrugged off her thanks and looked around the store again, then settled my eyes back on her. "Are you in here looking for Quidditch supplies?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm a first year so I can't bring a broom, though I am dying to get on one during flying lessons."

"The brooms at school aren't like the ones in here, they are old and hard to control." I informed her, pleased I found someone that can speak, and speak intelligently.

"That's horrible!" She exclaimed, "it would be much easier to teach the students that don't know how to fly with proper brooms like the Nimbus brooms and the new Comet brooms."

I was momentarily speechless, very momentarily. All of the girls Mother brought for me to meet hated talking about brooms, and here I've met a respectable girl who was in the best broom store in Diagon Alley and was keeping up an intelligent broom related conversation. It was like I had found the perfect best mate.

"I can't wait till I'm a second year so I can bring my broom to school," I told her to impress her into liking me and hanging out with me once we get to Hogwarts.

"You're a first year too?" She asked happily, seeming to loose the rest of her shyness. She turned away and began to browse the shelves. "I was afraid you were in a year older than me, then I wouldn't have known anyone at school and I couldn't bare that." She admitted, and I saw her neck grow red as she discoverd she didn't want to say that. I chuckled and looked away from her to let her get over her embarrassment as she had with me when I bumped into her.

"I was feeling the same way," I admitted after making sure the store clerk was busy and not eavesdropping. "I know a few other first years, but their parents are just friends with mine so I'm forced to hangout with them." I glanced back over to Hermione when I hear her make a sound in the back of her throat. Her face was scrunched up and she was shaking her head.

"My parents do the same with all of my cousins, I hate it. It's so annoying to be with all of them because they have just the most dimwitted things to say and think I'm odd for going against what they always do, but I don't care that much." She blushed again and I don't hold in my laugh this time. "Don't laugh at me!" She exclaimed, holding her books tighter to her chest and fixing me with a glare.

After I've calmed down I looked at her glaring at me, still completely amused. Hermione spoke about the things I thought of when I was alone and after I had been reprimanded, and though I should be apprehensive about her instead of amused, I wasn't. Her embarrassment put me at ease and if she didn't care too much to admit the things that we both have thought of before, aloud, then I wanted to stick to her.

"Don't worry, Hermione. We'll stick together when we get to Hogwarts."

"And you won't make fun of me anymore?" She narrowed her eyes at me and continued to glare at me. It could be an intimidating glare if I still wasn't ecstatic that I found a pureblood that doubted their parents ideals as I did and was willing to admit it even though I still never would. She could glare at me all she wanted, right now I couldn't care less.

"I promise."

She dropped the glare, lowered her books back to her hip, and smiled at me when she hears me say it. "Good," she nodded at me and I nod back, both of us acknowledging our new friendship and promising to take care of it.

In the books Mother read to me when Father was away, the children always became friends really quickly and stayed together through their adventures. I never understood how they could make such a strong friendship so quickly, and had asked Mother if I would ever have a friend like that. She always kissed my head and said of course I would, I just had to trust people and work to keep the relationship going. I still doubted her words, knowing her and Father didn't have friends like that and I never saw others with friends like the ones I read about. The bond Hermione and I just agreed to silently, with just a promise and nod, I wanted to make it into a real friendship. I wanted a friendship with Hermione that last through all of Hogwarts and into adulthood like the ones I read about.

"So I heard that if you raced a Comet 180 and a Cleansweep Six on a clear day and in a straight line, the Comet beats the Cleansweep easily, but when there are twists and turns, and it's bad weather the Cleansweep always wins," Hermione began rambling, walking around the store with me. We compared brooms we know of, she is patient with me when I don't know a fact about an older broom that she does and I am patient with her when she doesn't know a fact about the newer brooms. It was the most fun I had had with anyone that I didn't realize how late it had become until Mother came into the store to fetch me so we could go to Ollivander's before Father came back.

"I'll see you on the train, Hermione," I told her as Mother waited patiently at the door, looking amused.

"Okay, I better go find my parents also, they wanted to have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron but I could not resist the chance to look at the stores without a parent looming over my shoulder." She looked out the store window, both of us taking in just how long we must have spent in the store. "I hope they aren't too upset."

"Don't worry, dear," Mother said from the doorway, smiling at Hermione who steps closer to me. Mother and Father tend to intimidate all of my friends, and I was glad they still could to Hermione even if she was my favorite friend I had- there had to be a superior in every friendship after all. "I'm sure your parents had a fine time together for lunch, parents don't like school shopping that much anyways."

Hermione smiled shyly at my mom and nodded, glancing at me and back to Mother, "Thank you, Mrs..." Hermione bit her lip and blushed again, both of us realizing with a start I never told her my surname. That never happens.

"Malfoy, dear." Hermione nodded again and flushed further. I chuckled at her embarrassment and she pushed me and gave me a dirty look for making fun of her again. "Come on, Draco." Mother headed out the door and I waved to Hermione.

"See you on the first!" She shouted after me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Once I get further into the story I'll only be updating on Sundays, but I have all of the first book already written out so I don't see a problem with posting early for right now.**

 **I want everyone to remember, Hermione and Draco are 11, and I try my best to make their thoughts seem like eleven year old's, as the years pass they'll be more mature and less naive. Also please review, I read them all and will answer any questions.**

 **In Between the Lines: Chapter Two**

Hermione's POV:

I woke up before either of my parents that morning, too excited to sleep in or sit still. My parents regretted asking me to pack the week before when they were awake and couldn't entertain me or calm me down, but they weren't mad. They were so happy to have a reason behind all of the unexplained things that happened around me that they hadn't yelled at me once since I received my Hogwarts Letter. When we went to Diagon Alley for the first time two weeks before, they spent most of the time looking at all of the shops in the same amount of awe as I did and we bought as many trinkets as we could. Luckily the goblins had been patient with us when we went to exchange muggle money for wizard coins. It was an amazing experience.

And now I was finally headed to Hogwarts, just a parking job, a little walk, and a train ride away now. Mum and Dad spent the whole car ride brainstorming why my ticket said Platform 9 and 3/4 while I just sat there staring at it, taking in my ticket into a world that will accept me for who I am after being treated as a freak by all of the muggle kids I knew. I was finally going somewhere where everyone would accept who I am and be nice to me.

I spent the whole month reading wizarding books so I wouldn't be behind the "purebloods" or "half-bloods" that grew up in the wizarding world. I knew everything I could about Hogwarts and the history of the Wizarding world, and it was all so amazing. I mean the Headmaster of Hogwarts defeated Grindelwald, an evil and extremely strong sorcerer that wanted to control the Wizarding world, and the most recent evil sorcerer was scared of Professor Dumbledore and wouldn't fight him. It was all so amazing I couldn't get full sentences out when I tried to explain it to Dad, so he just smiled and nodded.

"Nine and three quarters... nine and three quarters," Dad muttered under his breath, looking around Kings Cross for a clue or someone that looks magical, but the letter told everyone to arrive in muggle clothing so I didn't see anyone out of place.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, point at platform nine. He looks over hopefully, but his face falls and he opens his mouth to tell me that's not what we're looking for but I continue to point. "It has four pillars!" Both Mum's and Dad's faces lit up and they leaned down to kiss my head and tell me I'm brilliant before we hurried towards the third pillar. As we approached, Mum pointed to a Mother and her son running towards the pillar at full speed, and before they hit it, they both disappeared.

"Amazing!" Dad said in awe, smiling towards the pillar as Mum wrapped her arms around my shoulders and squeezed me to her. "Ready, pumpkin?"

I smiled and nodded in response, feeling my chest tighten, not in fear but in pure excitement. I was at a loss of words and they knew it. I wasn't scared, I was confident that whatever the Wizarding world held for me, it was something big and I could handle it. I was ready and so, so excited.

The three of us grabbed a hold of my trolley, and ran at full speed towards the third pillar. Mum and Dad winced and closed their eyes, but continued running towards the pillar. I kept my eyes open and watched Kings Cross disappear around me and a platform packed with people rushing around and a scarlet steam engine waiting to take all of them away to Hogwarts materializing around me. A sign overhead read "Hogwarts Express," and when my parents moved us away from the entrance, which was an iron archway, I saw a sign that said "Platform 9 3/4" above the entrance. I made it, I was going to Hogwarts, I was a witch.

The crowd was full of children and adults, who carried trunks, cats, owls, and rats, chatting with each other, yelling over the heads to talk to someone farther away, and mother's crying while holding their children who were eager to get away and find an empty compartment. Smoke from the Hogwarts Express floated above everyone's head, creating an even more mystical mood to my dream come true.

The three of us rolled my trolly towards the train. Mum and Dad pulled me aside from the crowd and began reminding me of everything they had been saying that summer. Don't try spells you haven't learned yet. Listen to your professors. Do not drink potions unless you know for sure what it will do. Follow the rules. Study hard. Read a lot. Do not stress. Make friends.

"I know, I know," I smiled at my parents who smiled back at me, pulling me into a hug and kissing my head.

"We're so proud of you, Hermione," my mum whispered to me, wiping away her tear. "You're going to be the best witch in your year and show everyone how amazing the Granger Family is."

I laughed and hugged my mum again. "I doubt anyone at Hogwarts cares about who my family is, Mum." She laughed with me and let my dad pull me to him.

"Now, Pumpkin, you be good and stay away from boys-

"Dad!"

"I'm just teasing." He kissed my forehead. "Be the best you can be, baby girl, and they'll all watch in awe as you become the top of your class like you always are. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something, and if they say it anyways, prove them wrong."

"I will, Dad." I kissed his cheek and said a tearful goodbye to each of them before hurrying onto the train, waving goodbye to both and lugging my trunk behind me.

The first few compartments were already filled with a mixture of older and new students, but I didn't want a compartment at the front so I didn't mind walking further down the train, ignoring the students around me. I was looking for a familiar blonde hair boy but I couldn't find him anywhere even though the train had already left the station so he had to be somewhere. I was beginning to worry I'd have to sit alone when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

I turned around to see Draco smirking at me and tilting his head to the side, giving me an amused look again. "You look lost, Hermione."

I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at him, and fold my arms instead. "Hello to you too, Draco." He chuckled at my antics and pushed my shoulder to get me to start moving again.

"Come on, we'll get a compartment in the back, that's where I told my friends to meet me." I looked back at him and he rolled his eyes. "They won't bite." He paused and thought about it for a second. "Well stick with me and they won't" My eyes widened in horror and he laughed again. "Don't worry, you're my favorite so they won't say anything to you." I turned around and walked with a straighter back knowing Draco will help me through this school year.

After walking for a few more minutes in silence, Draco pointed to a small group of boys and said those are his friends and they must want him there to decide on which compartment to choose. I rolled my eyes at his words but don't want to offend him by saying thats ludicrous so I walked up to them with him. He walked in front of me as we got closer, greeting both boys with a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of boys and looked around in hope of finding a girl that Draco knows also, instead I saw a boy with a red face and shaky hands going in and out of the compartments, getting more and more flustered as he searched for something.

I stepped away from Draco, leaving my trunk next to him, and approached the tearful, round faced boy; he saw me coming and seemed scared before I smiled at him and asked what was wrong. He looked over my shoulder at Draco but Draco was still talking to the other two boys and wasn't paying attention to us.

"I lost my toad, Trevor," The shaking boy said, looking near tears again. I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave an encouraging smile.

"It's okay, I'll help you find him. I'm Hermione."

"Neville." Neville replied, wiping at his eyes and nose to clean himself up.

"Okay, Neville. Let me tell my friend I'm going with you. Why don't you continue asking around and I'll head back to the front to make sure no one has seen Trevor since you last asked, okay?" He nodded and headed into another compartment.

I turned around and walked back to Draco, taking in the two boys standing with them. If I wasn't with Draco they would definitely make me turn back around. They were the largest eleven year olds I've ever seen, and they had angry looks plastered on their faces whenever they weren't looking at Draco. And when they saw me approaching, I almost turned around due to the glare they sent my way until Draco snapped at them to stop.

"Hey, I'm going to help that boy find his toad, he lost it." I explained, motioning towards Neville as he walked back out of a compartment and into a new one. The two boys behind Draco laughed at Neville until I glare at them, they go into the compartment when Draco tells them to. "I'll be back later."

"You sure you want to help him?" Draco asked, sending a look towards Neville.

"Yeah, Mum always says to help people that need it, especially people that look like Neville does right now."

"Okay, I'll see you later," Draco said, laying a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it as he passes into the compartment, pulling his and my trunk in with him. Muggle eleven year old boys don't have half the manners of wizard eleven year old boys.

I walked back the way Neville had come from and go into each compartment to ask about a missing toad. No one had seen one, everyone seemed willing to say the truth, but a lot of the older students were not pleased when I bothered them from catching up with their friends. After trying to open several compartments that were charmed shut by the seventh years, I decided to change into my Hogwarts robes that were stored in my bag before continuing down the train. I meet up with Neville after I was finished and we continued the search. Most of the people I encountered were only a little peeved by my interruption, it wasn't until I was almost done that anyone was particularly mean to me. I opened the compartment door to find two boys that were my age, one of them had their wand and rat out.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," I told them.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," the red headed boy snapped at me. I ignored him and focused on his wand, it was battered and had spots where a silver strand poked out, but it was the first wand besides my own that I had seen, and the way this boy spoke must mean he was one of those purebloods and knew a lot about magic.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then?" I sit down next to the boy and raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. He looked taken aback by my boldness, but the other boy with messy black hair just shrugged and Neville leaned on the door, looking around the hall for Trevor.

"Er- all right." He cleared his throat, and then:

"Sunshine, daises, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

He waved his wand, but nothing happened, the rat stayed brownish-grey, and asleep. It might have been dead.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" I asked, maybe purebloods didn't have as much of advantaged as they acted like they did. They couldn't talk down to me if I'm better at them in school. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard- I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough." I realized I've said more than I wanted to again so I hurry to shut up. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

They both stared at me with wide eyes, looking a mixture of intimidated and annoyed. I was beginning to wish I had just stayed with Draco.

"I'm Ron Weasley," the red head told me.

"Harry Potter," the messy haired boy said. I whipped my head towards him and looked at him in awe, all bad thoughts towards him disappearing. He was raised by muggles, he is on the same playing level as me.

"Are you really? I know all about you, of course- I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_."

"Am I?" Harry asked, sounding worried and dazed.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me." I admitted, but changed the subject for Harry's benefit when he began to look uncomfortable. "Do either of you know what House you'll be in? I've been asking around, I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad..." I remembered Draco mentioning Slytherin while we were in Diagon Alley, though I really wanted to be in the same House as him and I found out Merlin was a Slytherin, there was still a lot of dark wizards and purebloods in Slytherin that I thought would not treat me as well as the other Houses because of my heritage. "Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

Neville and I continued to walk around the train, but I got tired after a while and head back to where Draco is near the back of the train. Neville said it was okay for me to leave, and kept saying thank you even as I was walking away. He was very nice, and didn't say anything about my family even though he was a pureblood himself, I was beginning to feel awful for how I came into this world judging people I didn't even know. Though the Weasley boy hadn't been too kind to me, Harry and Neville were both patient and kind to me and I was grateful for their kindness because without Draco I wasn't sure I'd have any friends.

I ran into Draco in the middle of the train, his two friends walking behind him like bodyguards. The three of them had changed into their Hogwarts robes, and Draco's friends ignored me as I greeted him.

"Have you heard Harry Potter is on the train?" He asked after asking about Neville's toad and if it's been found which I thought was very kind of him despite his friends snickering about it.

"Oh yes, I met him," I told him, smiling when Draco's eyes widen. "He's in..." I looked around and point to the compartment where I see the Weasley boy in. "He's in that compartment. He's quite nice but the boy he is sitting with was not very nice to me."

"Really?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes at Weasley.

"Yeah, but the boy can't even cast a proper spell so I didn't mind too much." I said so he doesn't think I'm helpless or was telling him so he could defend me to the boy. I don't want Weasley paying too much attention to me even if he was friends with Harry Potter.

Draco chuckled at my words. "I'm going to go see Potter, Father talks about him often."

"He's in a ton of books." Draco nodded but doesn't reply, walking towards the door. "I'm going to sit down for a while, I'll see you when we get there."

"Okay."

I walked around the train, looking for the compartment Draco and his friends had been sitting at, but I realized I was at the front of the train instead of the back when I see the conductor. I headed back the way I came, getting pushed and shoved by first and second years that were being idiotic. I see Draco and his friends rushing away from Harry Potter's compartment, one of his friends holding a bleeding hand. Anger surged through me and I marched into the compartment again.

"What has been going on?" I demanded, looking around at the mess of candy and Weasley's rat laying under the window.

"I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry, ignoring me again. "No- I don't believe it- he's gone back to sleep." Ron turned away from his old rat and looked at Harry, acting like I wasn't here ready to yell at both of them. "You've met Malfoy before?" I raised my eyebrows, realizing Weasley must have something big against Draco to use that tone.

Harry nodded and tells a story about meeting Draco at Diagon Alley, and it was awful. Draco would never say muggle-borns shouldn't go to Hogwarts, he said I was his favorite friend!

"I've heard of his family. They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." I didn't believe anything Ron said, Draco was the nicest person I had met in the Wizarding world and his mother was equally nice to me, if his Father was half as great as Draco said he was I couldn't imagine him ever treating anyone bad. Weasley may have been on Dumbledore's side of the war, but Draco's family must have been under a curse. "Can we help you with something?" Ron snapped at me. I gave him a dark look for his tone.

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!" I yelled at them.

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us." Ron said, scowling at me. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" He rudely asked, I scowled back at him.

"All right- I only came in here because people outside are behaving childishly, racing up and down the corridors." I lie, not wanting them to be even meaner to me because they hate Draco so much, but I still want to defend Draco somehow. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?" I turned on my heel, feeling his glare on me, but I don't care because he was just a stupid little boy that didn't know anything about me.

Finally, I made my way to Draco's compartment and plop down in the seat next to him. He chuckled when I let out an exhausted sigh, but doesn't comment so he doesn't wake his friends, both of which looked like they were in a chocolate induced coma. Draco continued reading one of the textbooks assigned this year, but I just leaned on his shoulder and try to relax my nerves. He tensed up when I first lay my head on his shoulder, and not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable and realizing that maybe only some friends that are boys are okay with it when you lean on them, I lifted my head back off his shoulder. After a second however, Draco rolled his shoulders.

"It's okay, I don't mind." I smiled at him even though he doesn't look at me and lay my head back down on his quite comfortable shoulder for such a skinny boy. "This is why you don't jump to help every helpless person you see."

"I didn't mind helping, I just got lost and thought the front of the train was the back, or I would have been here earlier and already asleep like those two."

Draco chuckled, and at first I thought it was at my joke but then he said "how can you get lost in a train with windows." I nudged him in the side, causing him to chuckle again, but don't say anything back, resigning to resting until we get to the train station.

Soon a voice goes through the whole train, saying "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Draco's friends didn't move an inch from their slumber, but Draco put away his book and I rubbed my drooping eyes, the sense of nerves and excitement hitting me at full blast again. "Draco?"

"hmm?" he asked, leaning over to retie his shoes.

"My House will accept me, no matter which one it is, right?" I whispered, letting my hair fall to cover my red face.

"Of course, and if anyone does give you trouble, they have me to deal with." He bumped me with his shoulder, making my hair move out of my face and our eyes lock. He has a different eye color than I have ever seen, like a cloudy day or a misty morning. "Don't worry, Hermione, when you're friends with me no one messes with you."

"Not even Ron Weasley?"

Draco scowled and shook his head. "Especially Weasley."

I smiled and get to my feet, "Thank you, Draco." I smiled at him and he smiled back. "I'm heading to the front of the train, I don't particularly like crowds and once we get there everyone will be pushing and shoving."

"Okay, I'll see you at the Sorting Ceremony." I nodded and open the door, but before I close he called me back. "Don't fret too much about what House you're in. Don't tell anyone I told you this, but as long as you're not in Hufflepuff, you'll be in a great House." I smiled gratefully back at Draco, then closed the door and hurried to the front of the train.


	4. Chapter 4

**In Between The Lines: Chapter Three**

Draco's POV:

The train began to slow down after Hermione left, it's old breaks screeched and jolted Crabbe and Goyle awake. I laughed as they fell to the ground, imagining Hermione doing the same in the hallway. The train finally came to a stop, voices filled the halls and older students were pushing the younger students out of the way, perhaps Hermione was right to get a head start, I was definitely not going out there until I was sure it had calmed down. I may be a Malfoy, but older students had the liberty to push around first years all they wanted, a liberty I would exercise as soon as I could but will respectfully stay away from until then.

Crabbe was standing by the door, under my orders to tell me when the halls weren't so packed, while Goyle was stuffing his robe's pockets with the rest of the candy. I told him when he first started the chocolate was going to melt and stain his new robes, but, after making sure I wasn't forbidding him to do it, he continued to stuff his pockets till his thighs looked lumpy and crinkled when he walked. He had just finished when Crabbe said the halls are almost empty so I don't have time to order him to take some out so he doesn't look ridiculous and embarrass me.

We began shivering the closer we got to the front of the train, but I kept quiet and ignored the other two's complaints as I searched the crowd for Hermione's bushy head, instead I found a familiar colored boy walking up to me with an eyebrow raised. Crabbe and Goyle became attentive when they saw him approaching with a challenge in his eyes, but I just smirked and crossed my arms.

"Zabini."

"Malfoy," Blaise Zabini nodded to me, taking in Crabbe and Goyle who relaxed when they recognize him. The Zabini family wasn't well known, but Mrs. Zabini is for her long list of deceased and rich husbands, I'd over heard Mother gossiping with her friends about the causes of deaths. Whether his mother should be in Azkaban or not, Blaise was still a decent bloke who was invited to the Manor often in our childhood. He wasn't a loner like Nott, but he did not follow me around like the rest of the pureblood children, instead we made compromises on everything, agreeing on very little things but never having to big of a fight that we become enemies.

"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years?" The four of us looked up and see a large, hairy man surrounded by young children looking up at him with a mix of awe and disgust. It was the man, Hagrid, that Harry Potter was so fond of. Despite all of us wanting to just walk with the older students and avoid this lump, we walked towards the beastly man. "Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Barely making it through the narrow and slippery pathway, we all followed Hagrid down the steep narrow path. Some of the other students fell into the mud, and most of them in the front got splashed every time Hagrid stepped in a puddle, but the four of us stay standing and respectable. Nobody talked as we walked, to which I was grateful for, instead we focused on where we were stepping, straining our eyes to see in the dark. I spot Hermione at the front of the group talking to the toad boy again, looking carefree. My chest hurt at the thought of her having friends outside of my group of friends, that she would rather hangout with them than with me, but I pushed that feeling away and demanded my brain to think rationally, I'm a Malfoy, of course she and any friends she makes will want to hangout with me.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend," Hagrid yelled over his shoulder.

There was a collective "Oooh" from the group in the front as they saw Hogwarts for the first time. Even the well known pureblood children like myself had never seen Hogwarts in person, and there was only a small amount of paintings hidden around the world that most people never see. To see Hogwarts in all of its magnificence and experience the total awe that comes over you, you have to go to Hogwarts.

"I'm glad Mother didn't send me to Drumstrang," Zabini muttered to me, and I nodded. Nothing would beat Hogwarts now that I had seen it.

Drumstrang, the other wizarding school for just boys, and just pureblood boys, was newer than Hogwarts, with a newer castle and lots of new routines that Hogwarts is too old fashion for. Father wanted to send me there, and before I wanted to go there too, but Mother said that men that went there always came out messed up and dull because that's what the castle did to you. Her and Father went to Hogwarts together, Father in the year below her, and she always said those were the best years of her life, that she wanted me to have the ability to experience that too. Muggle-borns be damned.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called from the front of the group, his voice echoed back to the three of us. Crabbe and Goyle stretched to see over the heads of other first years, reporting to me that there was a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

When we reached the boats, there were not many students left so the three of us shared a boat, Crabbe and Goyle making up for a fourth person. Before the boats started moving together towards the castle, I spotted Hermione following behind the boy that lost his toad- Neville. She looked up after settling in the boat to find Potter and Weasley sharing the boat also. I chuckled as the boats began to float across the water at the disappointed look on her face, she looked around the boats but stopped after a moment when she doesn't find what she was looking for. Zabini and I don't talk while on the boat, sitting next to each other on the front seat while Crabbe and Goyle sat behind us eating the rest of the candy. Everyone is silent as they stared up at the Hogwarts castle. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the boats in the front reached the cliff. The boats preceded to glide through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face, all of us lowered our heads to avoid getting hit in the face. As I lowered my head, Zabini simply raised his hand and brushed the ivy away from him, causing me to scowl and sit up straighter than him.

The boats continued to carry us down a dark tunnel. All of us refrained from speaking and it caused every drop of water in the black tunnel to echo through the whole thing. The tunnel seemed to take us right underneath the castle, but the professors must not see any reason to add magical nights to ensure first years aren't afraid of the castle they will spend the next seven years residing nine out of the twelve months of the year in. Instead they left the underground cave as it is, dark and wet.

The boats reached a type of underground harbor. As each boat docked itself, we clambered out onto the rocks and pebbles. Hagrid began checking the boats as the last of us made our way onto the ground, I saw Hermione standing next to Neville, a few steps away from Weasley and Potter whom were looking around the cave in amazement. It was just a cave.

Just then, Hagrid called out to Neville, asking him if the toad he was holding was the one he lost. The chubby boy's face lit up upon seeing the toad, taking it from Hagrid and showing Trevor to Hermione who looked excited for Neville. After giving Neville his lost toad, Hagrid thundered up the passage way of pebbles, his lamp leading the rest us us through the darkened passage.

Eventually we came out onto smooth, damp grass in the shadow of the castle. Everyone seemed relieved to not have to continue walking up a steep slop made of small rocks, but Zabini and I observed several students that had grown fidgety the closer we got to the castle and the sorting ceremony. Hagrid led us up a flight of stone steps, all of us crowded around a huge oak door.

"Everyone here?" Hagrid asked, looking over his towering shoulders. "You there, still got yer toad?" I looked where his eyes are and saw Hermione not too far from me nudged Neville who was holding his toad much too tight.

Hagrid nodded at the sight, turned, and knocked three times on the castle door.


	5. Chapter 5

**In Between The Lines: Chapter Four**

 **Hermione's POV:**

"Welcome to Hogwarts," ProfessorMcGonagall said after leading us into a small, empty chamber off the hall. When passing a large door in the hallway I could hear hundreds of voices being muffled by the door, all of them excited and booming, as if they were beckoning the lot of us back to meet them all. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room.

"The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting." Professor McGonagall's eyes lingered on Neville next to me for a second longer, whose cloak was fastened under his left ear, then to Ron Weasley who still had dirt on his nose even though I told him about it earlier. I hid a smirk when he scowled as Professor McGonagall turned away. "I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly."

In front of me, Harry and Ron discussed what the Sorting Ceremony consisted of, Ron claiming it was a type of test. My nerves doubled as I began to worry about not passing my first test because I wasn't raised by other witches and wizards like most of my classmates. Slytherins must be solely purebloods because they all passed the test. I made my way to where I spotted Draco's blonde head, whispering about all the spells I've learned on my way there, wondering which one I'll need.

"You've finally found us then," Draco drawled when I reached him and stood next to him after one of his chubby friends moved for me. He had another boy with him now, a tan boy with black hair that glanced at me but continued to look around him and didn't seem to pay attention to Draco and I.

"Well, it was your own fault you didn't think to head to the front of the train when I did. Honestly, I'm sure the view of the castle was much better from where I was considering there weren't any boats or students blocking my view." I retorted to his rude comment, fixing him with a glare for being mean to me.

He raised an eyebrow at me, frowning deeply, but before he could reply or attempt to scold me, I gasped and a few people around me scream. Draco whipped around and positioned himself in front of me before realizing what was going on. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall, gloating through the air talking to one another, not paying the frightened first years a glance, it seemed like they were too busy arguing. They were pearly-white and slightly transparent, matching all descriptions of ghosts I was given as a child.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? he gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?" The ghost speaking to a rather fat ghost turned to look at all of us, he was wearing a ruff and tights.

"New students!" the Fat Friar exclaimed, smiling around at all of us. Draco moved to my side and rolled his eyes, he had told me he couldn't wait for next year when he wouldn't be referred to as an ickle first year. I would probably understand his point of view on that matter, if my nerves weren't so high at the moment. "About to be sorted, I suppose?" I nodded to the ghost like several others did. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old House, you know." Draco snickered next to me, his tan friend joining him in their unspoken joke about Hufflepuffs.

"Move along now," Professor McGonagall's voice traveled down the hall, her body not far behind. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

One by one the ghosts floated away and my nerves floated to my head, making me faint with anxiety. I felt the color drain from my face and all the knowledge I had made sure to memorize felt as though it was slipping in between the curves in my brain and dripping out my ears.

Draco took a hold of my forearm and gave me a tug, apparently Professor McGonagall had told all of us to head into the Great Hall and I had heard none of it. I took a moment to steel myself before forcing my legs to follow the mass of first years whom were forming a line. I hurried to get in line, Draco trailing behind me refusing to run but I didn't notice as we approached the double doors leading to the Great Hall.

No matter how many hours I could have spent reading what the Great Hall would hold, none of the descriptions had prepared me for it's true magnificence. In so many books, including Hogwarts: A History, the authors had admitted to not being able to capture Hogwarts beauty and now I understood why. The Great Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the student body had their eyes trained on us. I avoided the eyes watching me and looked to the front of the line. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were seated, all of them smiling at us encouraging. Professor McGonagall led us to the front of the hall, positioning us with our backs to the teachers so the rest of the student body could get a proper look of us. I realized in my haste to get to the front of the line I hadn't realized I was so close to Harry Potter again. He was looking up at the ceiling.

I followed his line of sight and took a deep breath at the sight. The sky was clear, a few wisps of clouds floated across the ceiling but mainly millions of stars dotted the ceiling and the corner of the moon peaked out from behind one of the pillars. I had never seen the sky this clear back home where muggles polluted the sky and it was breath taking even if it was only a copy of the sky out tonight.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," I informed Harry so he doesn't worry about getting rained on or something of the sort. "I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_." I smiled at the thought of my new favorite book which was able to ensure I knew everything I could about my new home so no one could tell me I didn't belong and so that I was prepared for anything.

Harry and I looked back to Professor McGonagall whom was placing a four-legged stool in front of all of us. On top of the stool, she placed a pointed wizard's hat. The hat was brown, had several patches spotting it's surface, and lay upon the stool with a sigh. I had read a textbook about transfiguration over the summer and the theories I had memorized began playing in my mind.

Before I could take out my wand and begin practicing the designated wand movements for changing something old into new, I noticed the whole student body staring at the hat in anticipation. I trained my eye on the old, raggedy hat too, waiting and watching. Nothing but silence happened for a few seconds, the whole hall breathing no words. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened like a mouth, opened because it was a mouth- and it began to sing.

 _"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong to Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _If you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning,_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folk use all means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall erupted in applause after the Sorting Hat finished his song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quiet still again. I glanced behind me to where Draco was standing with his two friends from the train, the tan boy stood further away and watching the Sorting Hat. Draco looked up when he felt a stare on him and raised an eyebrow when he met my gaze. I gave him a smile after being reassured and turned back around as Professor McGonagall began to speak again.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said, holding a long roll of parchment. I felt like all of my child hood dreams of living in the era of Mr. Darcy were coming true when I saw the piece of parchment.

"Abbott, Hannah!" a pink-face girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line and onto the stool. The hat sat low on her head, falling right over her eyes and for a short moment nothing happens, and then- "HUFFLEPUFF!" The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah Abbott went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table.

The same process happened for every student.

"Bones, Susan!" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terry! "RAVENCLAW!"

"Brocklehurt, Mandy! "RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender!" "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Bulstrode, Millicent!" "SLYTHERIN!"

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Finnigan, Seamus!" "GRYFFINDOR!"

The time between the hat being placed on a first years head and the hat yelling out a house name varies. Each time the hat called out a name the House would cheer for their new member and welcome the first year into their House. The love radiating of each house, even Slytherin, warmed my heart and I felt as though I had found my home. My House would protect me from bullies whom made fun of me because of my brains, my House would be proud to have me, my House would tell me good job every time I earn them House points. My House would love me and I would have friends in my House.

"Granger, Hermione!"

I gave a small jolt as I realized it was my turn, and as I stepped out of line and felt all of those eyes turn to me, my heart began racing. I hurried to the hat and jammed it on my head, the eyes that watched me curiously disappearing behind the black inside of the hat. I could still hear the murmur of students from under the hat, but it was muffled, like I was in a bubble.

"Well..." The hat drawls similarly to the way Draco does. "You are interesting. There is such loyalty here and you will always seek proper justice- but no not Hufflepuff. Perhaps Ravenclaw. You have a thirst for knowledge no one can deny." The hat's voice was soft, small coming through my ears but seeming to start in my ears and not outside of them. "Yes, you could be good in Ravenclaw, it's the proper choice. Yet we both hesitate to say yes to them, don't we." I refrained from nodding, he knew what I was thinking without having to let other's know it also. "Why is that, what else do you hold? Courage, but no willingness to admit this courage. Sure you'll stand up for what is right and for your friends, that is where your Hufflepuff comes from, but not for yourself? But you are brave, braver than you think. Yes, you have courage and bravery. All you need now is to put the willingness to learn into showing your true colors. You'll be perfect in GRYFFINDOR!"

Professor McGonagall took the hat off my head and smiled down at me as the table on the far left exploded in cheers and applause. I gave her a wide grin back and skipped towards the cheering table, placing myself down next to a red headed boy with a badge on his chest. "Congratulations!" He mouthed over the dying cheers. Professor McGonagall began calling out more names but all I could do was look around the table at my fellow Gryffindors and at the Great Hall, completely awestruck. A sense of calamity suddenly fell upon me and I took a deep breath to calm myself as I realized Hogwarts had just become my home.

I looked back to where the rest of my classmates stood with the intent to find Draco, but instead my eyes landed on the High Table. At the end nearest the Gryffindor table was Hagrid, the half-giant whom helped all the first years to Hogwarts. He was nodding and clapping along with the rest of the students as each name was called. My eyes glazed over the rest of the professors as I looked at the Headmaster. He was sitting in a large gold chair, leaning back in it and smiling at all of the students with an old but cheerful grin. Albus Dumbledore seemed like the kind of Headmaster to truly care for all of his students, making me feel even more comfortable here in Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore must have felt my eyes on him because he tilted his head slightly and caught my eye. His silver hair shined in the candle light and glinted as he moved. He smiled at me and gave a slight nod to which I grinned back at before he turned back to the Sorting Ceremony.

By the time I focused back on the names being called, it was Draco's turn. I looked up just a small moment before his name was called and saw his eyes staring right at me, a slight frown on his lips and a furrow between his eyebrows. He seemed upset by my sorting, but the expression he was wearing was one of a child who was told he couldn't play with his toys. I gave a smile as his name was called to reassure him like he had done earlier, but he turned away from me and swaggered forward towards the stool. He was given what he wanted now because the moment the hat touched the tips of his blonde hair it shouted out "SLYTHERIN!"

Draco seemed exceptionally pleased with himself to have been the one sorted the fastest and for being sorted into his favorite Hogwarts House. He went and sat next to the two fat boys from the train- Crabbe and Goyle was what Professor McGonagall said. He immediately began talking with the people around him, quickly immersing himself into the roots of Slytherin house and being quick to make friends. Perhaps I should be doing the same, but the Gryffindor house was much more approachable than the Slytherin house so I was sure Draco was being quick to make friends while they were still cheering for him joining of their house. After the next name is called Draco stopped talking to his Housemates and turned towards me. He smirked at me and raised his eyebrow, for the first time I hesitate before smiling back, unsure now if it was meant to be good or bad. I smiled back anyways and can see even from this distance his posture softened and know without a doubt now he was smirking in a peaceful way. He turned away to watch the Sorting Ceremony, but I looked down at the gold table top for a moment, thinking about the paragraphs I had read about the relationship between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin.

It was said that there were no friends closer to each other than Gryffindor and Slytherin even though Gryffindor was most in favor for allowing muggle-borns to attend Hogwarts while Slytherin was the one that started the idea of blood purity. Gryffindor and Slytherin were the best of best friends and helped each other build their dormitories for their Houses, but the problem of blood purity created such a rift between the two friends that there are rumors that they dueled before Slytherin left Hogwarts.

But I believed that wouldn't happen to Draco and I, he was above blood-purity and had promised we would always stay friends. I pushed all of these thoughts away, returned my wide smile to my face and let the cheerful environment around me lift my bad thoughts away and back to the present.

Harry was being called and the whole Hall erupted in whispers, making the little boy with messy black hair grow red faced and hurry to the stool like I had. While the whole hall waited to know what house would be home to the-boy-who-lived, I thought over my encounter with Harry Potter that evening. He must not have known anything about his parents deaths and his fame that came from their deaths until this summer when he turned eleven. It was hard for me to adjust to the wizarding world, but it must be so much worse for a boy that just realized he was known by every wizard and witch in Britain.

"GRYFFINDOR!" All of the Gryffindor table and some members from other tables cheered the loudest they had all night long as Harry shakily walked towards the table. The boy next to me with the Perfect badge on stood up to shake Harry's hand while two identical twins that looked similar to the boy with the Perfect badge shouted "We got Potter! We got Potter!" As Harry sat down in front of me I realized with a start that these boys must be Ron's older brothers. There sure were a lot of Weasleys.

The last Weasley boy was still standing in line along with Draco's tan friend, a black boy whom was taler than Ron who already loomed over Harry and I, and a short skinny girl. Ron and Dean Thomas were sorted into Gryffindor, Dean sitting down a few seats down from me and Ron squeezing himself next to Harry. The last girl, Lisa Turpin, was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Blaise Zabini, Draco's friend, was sorted into Slytherin. I watched with a high level of curiosity as Blaise approached the Slytherin table without a smile or a smirk like the rest of the first years had, instead he simply walked to the table and sat down across from Draco, a girl with short black hair was forced to move away from the two when Blaise told her to. He hadn't seemed rude when standing with Draco, and even from here he didn't seem to be causing any sort of fuss at the Slytherin table, but instead sat their quietly, occasionally speaking to Draco and a boy, who I could only remember had a last name that started with an N, but never anyone else.

I looked up to the High Table and saw Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He looked at all of the students, beaming at all of us, his arms wide, as if nothing could please him more than to see them all here.

"Welcome!" Professor Dumbledore said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Idiot, Fat, Scraps, and Adjust. What was that suppose to mean?

Everybody began cheering and clapping like they had interpreted his message differently from the one I had. I turned to ask Percy what he had meant but Harry beats me to it.

"Is he- a bit mad?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"Mad? He's a genius! Best wizard in the world!" I glanced away from Percy and to the table, my mouth fell open. "But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

Harry's mouth fell open also as I began filling my plate with the delicious array of food laid out in front of me, for a moment regretting not taking some of Crabbe and Goyle's candy on the train, but forgetting that thought immediately as the first bite hits my taste buds. It was like a carnival in your mouth. I will never tire of Hogwarts if this is what my life will hold: friends, amazing teachers, delicious foods, magic.


	6. Chapter 6

Draco's POV:

The whole hall was filled with students catching up with friends and stuffing their faces with the various kinds of food presented at each table. There wasn't a variation from table to table, each table was given the same type of food with the same amount, yet the other tables wolfed down the food in a more hurried manner than the Slytherins that talked in between small bites and didn't act as though the food was made from heaven, house-elves were hardly angels.

Most of the Slytherins were from prestigious families, half-blood or pureblood, and owned house-elves of their own. Though I internally admited to the Hogwarts house-elves being better trained or more skilled at cooking than my own.

Blaise, who was the last to be sorted and had not liked having so much attention on him in that last sorting, was seated across me eating his food with the same air of indifference he always had. Between Theodore Nott, who sat next to Blaise, and I, no one knew Blaise better, and the last time I saw Blaise portray any sign of emotion was when his mother brought home a new boyfriend three months after inheriting her deceased third husband's bank accounts. Blaise had ordered his personal house-elf to take him to my house where Theo was staying while his father was away on a trip. We had only been nine at the time, Theo and I not having made the connection between Mrs. Zabini and her steep rise to riches, but we were old enough to notice something wrong with Blaise when he had popped in between us during a wizarding chess game and began exploding all of my chess pieces. His temper had not lasted long, and he had apologized to me, refused to stay for dinner, and left not an hour after arriving.

Theo and I didn't know what to make of Blaise, but I didn't know what to make of Theo or Theo of me, but the three of us stuck together the best we could without having to call each other such an important title as a friend or a low title as an ally.

I looked over Blaise's shoulder again to Hermione, who I would call my friend but had not introduced her as such to the rest of my mates. She was eating much calmer than the rest of the boys around her, giving Weasley disgusted looks but still seemed to be enjoying the food like it was the first time she had experienced house-elf food. When she had sat down next to the Weasley boy with the Perfect Badge, she had never looked more content or amazed. I hadn't seen her face when we walked into the Great Hall but she had told Potter about the ceiling and it's enchantment, I had been sure she was letting him know because her own house had a similar enchantment, but she said she read about it in Hogwarts: A History. Then her last name, how had I not realized she never told me her last name? Why hadn't I heard the name Granger before? Questions were forming vaguely in my mind but I'm not sure where they were leading to or if I wanted to know the answers. Hermione was still Hermione, I knew when I met her in Broomstix she was a bit of a know-it-all but it allowed me to have an intelligent conversation with someone else besides Blaise and Theo. So what if some magic amazed her?

Professor Dumbledore got to his feet after the desserts vanish from the tables, the hall falling silent. "Ahem- just a few words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that." Unsurprisingly, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed towards the Gryffindor table. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." The hall was quickly filled with murmurs, Theo glanced across the table to me with a raised eyebrow but I merely shrugged. "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the schools song!" Dumbledore cried.

Many Slytherins began to lowly groan and other students rolled their eyes. Blaise inclined his head towards the High Table and I noticed that the teachers smiles had become more forced than before. This should be interesting.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick and a long golden ribbon flies out of it. The ribbon rose high above the tables and twisted itself like a snake into words. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!" Dumbledore said merrily.

 _Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

 _Teach us something please,_

 _Whether we be old and bald,_

 _Or young with scabby knees,_

 _Our heads could do with filling,_

 _With some interesting stuff,_

 _For now they're bare and full of air,_

 _Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

 _So teach us things worth knowing,_

 _Bring back what we've forgot,_

 _Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

 _And learn until our brains all rot._

Theo began snickering the moment the hall filled with voices, muffling his noise in the table while I decide to read the words off in monotone and Blaise sits there mouthing the words. Theo managed to calm himself for a moment near the end of the song but flew into a fit of snickers when he sees Crabbe and Goyle singing the song next to me; Blaise had to shove him to get him to shut up as two twins sitting at the Gryffindor table with familiar red hair finished out the song with a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted the last few lines for the Weasley Twins with his wand, then clapped his hands with the other three houses and a few unenthusiastic Slytherins.

"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Theo narrowed his eyes at the word "bedtime" but stood up with the rest of the first year Slytherins and followed the Slytherin perfects out of the great hall. All of the first years had to keep their eyes focused on their house's perfects to avoid getting left behind or led to the wrong House. As everyone pushed each other to get out the Great Hall's doors I somehow end up beside Hermione with Theo in front and Blaise on my other side while Crabbe and Goyle enjoyed pushing smaller first years away from me.

"Sleep well," Hermione said with a slightly raised voice so that I could hear her over the crowd. I simply nodded in reply and followed the dirty blonde boy and dark haired girl towards the staircases leading further down in the castle. I glanced back once to see her bounce up the stairs to catch up with her fellow Gryffindors, when I looked straight again I caught Blaise watching me out of the corner of his eye.

The Slytherin Common Room is located in the dungeons on the opposite side of the castle from where the entrance from the lake under the castle was. There were several flights of stairs to take to get to the rooms and with each flight the air in the castle became colder. Finally the two perfects stopped in front of a stone wall and turned to face the first years.

"I'm Terence Higgs and this is Stella Burke," The male perfect introduced, he was taller than all of the first years but the female next to him wasn't much shorter than him. He had a slim body and blonde hair that was darker than mine but much brighter compared to the female's hair. The female perfect was introduced as a Burke family member but she looked like a Black family member to me. Her hair was the same dark black as my mother's used to be and she had the large nose I had seen painted on my relative's tapestry's. As Terence and Stella droned on about house points and making sure the Slytherin house wins the house cup again, I took a step towards Theo and told him my observations.

"She's the great niece of Phineas Black." Theo whispered back.

"Sacred but tainted." I replied, Theo nodded but stayed quiet.

There were twenty eight family names that my father had me memorize very young, the Sacred Twenty Eight. They were the twenty eight British families that were purely Pureblood as stated in the Pureblood Directory which was written by one of Theo's ancestors. Father said that Cantankerus Nott probably added his family's name to the list to give his family more say in the government, but that it was still okay to associate with the Notts even if that was true. The Zabini family was apart of the Italian list that I later memorized after being scolded by father for acting superior over Blaise when we first met. The rest of the British families are tainted with dirty blood, and after Phineas Black became a Blood-Traitor, the Black family has been trying to reestablish it's standing in society.

Mother said its alright to associate with people with other surnames that are half-blood or pureblood because people can't choose their families. She had an argument with Father when he heard her tell me this, she won however when she brought up something to do with inbreds. Thats how I got introduced to Crabbe and Goyle, two goons who are not sacred.

"If you're not listening to me you better start now." Stella raised her voice over the growing whispers. "The Common Room is hidden behind this wall, you are not to show the entrance to anyone from another house and you are not to share the password with anyone outside of Slytherin House, including teachers."

Stella stepped back as Terence stepped up to the wall and clearly said so the rest of us could hear it "Serpent."

A stone door concealed in the wall slid open and Terrence and Stella marched through. The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several upper class Slytherins were sitting on the couch by it. All of the first years kept looking around the large, dimly lit room to quickly take it all in and then faced Terrence and Stella again.

"The girls dormitories are down these stairs," Stella instructed, pointing down a spiral staircase while Terrence pointed at another.

"This is the boys dormitories. This year's dormitories are at the top, second year is below you and so on to the bottom where seventh years are. You can go into other year's dormitories but not the other sexes dormitories or the stairs will open and you'll go into the Black Lake." After that warning, both perfects left the first years alone to unpack their belongings.

I took a look around the room and took notice of the Slytherin Hierarchy. It was clear that the group sitting by the fire were the ones in charge and everyone else took cues from them. The chairs by the fire were occupied only by members of the group and they were circled around the fire to give the appearance that they were secluded but apart of the Slytherin House, that they were above it. I knew those chairs would be for my social group one year.

For now, I walked down the spiral stairs to the boys dormitories, Crabbe and Goyle following my lead while Blaise and Theo stayed back. Four poster beds were spread out in a circle around the dormitory, with a dresser next to each of them. Our trunks had already been brought up by the house elves and I began unpacking for this semester as Crabbe and Goyle got out the sweets Goyle taken from the train and took stock of them. I didn't speak to them the rest of the night, too tired to attempt conversation with their dull minds and instead lay in my new bed and rested as the rest of the boys in my year unpacked and got in bed.

Hogwarts was a small wizarding school compared to the rest of the wizarding schools, there were only five Slytherin boys this year, three Slytherin girls (Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, and Millicent Bulstrode). Gryffindor received five boys (Seasmus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley) and three girls (Lavender Brown, Hermione Granger, Parvati Patil). Ravenclaw received two boys (Terry Boot and Morag MacDougal) and three girls (Lisa Turpin, Padma Patil, Mandy Brocklehurst) and Hufflepuff manage to get two boys (Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan) and three girls (Sally-Anne Perks, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott). It was a small class for such a huge school, but father said that its easiest to control a group when the group is small.

With that thought in mind, I went to sleep on my first night in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter starts off in Draco's POV simply because it needs to, typically the two POVs will be separate chapters.  
**

 **In Between the Lines: Chapter 6**

Draco's POV

The first week of term was spent getting my bearings as quick as I could while ensuring I arrived at the classes within reasonable time of them starting. Every first year has a free hour once a day depending on what class you are in. Hermione says Gryffindor's free hour is Afternoon Period but Slytherin's is Second Period so I've only managed to see her around lunchtime and after dinner if we bump into one another. The teachers wisely only put Slytherins and Gryffindors together in two classes, Charms on Thursday and Double Potions on Friday. When I walked into Professor Flitwick's classroom, the Head of Ravenclaw House, a part-goblin part-wizard who has to stand on a pile of books to address the class, I immediately spotted Hermione's bushy brown hair in the front row. I wanted to sit with her to talk but didn't because she was in the first row. She had an empty seat next to her all class but didn't seem to mind as she answered as many questions as she could. It wasn't until after class that she realized I was in class with her.

"How come you didn't sit with me?" She had asked after greeting me, her eyebrows furrowed together and frowning slightly.

"I didn't realize you were in the class until it had already started," I lied easily. She watched me for a minute before saying she had to get to her Transfiguration class.

Crabbe and Goyle now followed me into the dungeon where Professor Snape's classroom was located. As Slytherin's we were the first to reach the classroom since we knew how to travel the dungeons already, so the three of us chose a seat in the middle. I had made sure to tell all of the first year Slytherin's how Professor Snape was a good friend of my mother and had known my father in school, Snape may favor Slytherin's some, but with me in class he surely will a lot more.

As the Gryffindors walked into the classroom we could all hear them fussing over the colder temperatures in the dungeons and grumbling about having to have another class with us Slytherins, but we simply snickered at their complaints and stuck to our side of the room. I kept my back leaning against the desk so I could talk with Crabbe and Goyle while discreetly watching for Hermione.

She walked into the classroom only a few steps in front of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, as a fellow Gryffindor she wasn't able to escape those two boys but had said earlier that she was making a valiant effort to stay away from the Weasley Boy. Now she didn't seem to mind sitting next to Potter with Weasley on the other side despite there being an empty seat in the table in front of me, which I knew she saw because she had caught my gaze as she walked in. Apparently she was getting back at me for not sitting with her in Charms, which was really childish so I turned away from her bushy head and focused on the other Slytherin's as we waited for Professor Snape.

* * *

Hermione's POV:

There were more boys in the Gryffindor first year class than there were girls by two, but with Lavender and Parvati being the other two girls I had decided the first night to try to make friends with the boys. Every Gryffindor was friendly and helpful to the first years when I had asked for help, however just like any other house, Gryffindor had a few members that enjoyed being an annoyance and hindering fellow housemates instead of helping, this seemed to be the case for all of the Weasley children except Percy Weasley; I couldn't tell who was worse, the twin Weasley's who pulled pranks in order to gain attention or Ron Weasley who never had a nice thing to say unless he was talking to Harry. Despite Ron, most of the male Gryffindors were fine with making conversation with me despite being the opposite sex, especially Neville who was also finding it hard to fit in.

The academic aspect of the first week had been amazing, having read all of the assign books earlier in the summer, and then rereading them when it got closer to the start of term, I was ready to start on the core content in every class, putting me ahead of the students and teachers who were all focusing on the introductory information. As my parents had taught me at a young age, I made sure to form a healthy relationship with all of my teachers as fast as I could so if something was to happen they would be accommodating.

Everything was running better than I had feared, but I had only managed to see Draco a couple of times in the halls between classes. Teachers tried there very hardest to keep Slytherins away from Gryffindors, and they did a very good job at this, but I also felt as though he was avoiding me. Despite his promise over the summer, there was nothing forcing him to be my friend now that he had a whole house to have conversations with, a house that holds the majority of prejudice students and hates the house I was sorted into. He told me in the beginning of the week that once everyone gets use to the schedule the halls will be easier to navigate and we would be able to find a time to spend time together, but that was the last time I had a long conversation with him and I had not spoken to him since he ignored me in Charms.

Now I was headed to another class with the Slytherins with Harry, Ron and Neville, the other Gryffindors far ahead of us. Neville kept fretting over how scared he was of Professor Snape's reputation while Harry and Ron acted as though we were not walking in a group together and instead discussed the meeting Harry was going to have with Hagrid the Keeper of Key and Grounds. As we walked down the staircase that led to the dungeons, I could feel the air drop in temperature and rise in humidity and Harry and Ron immediately began discussing how awful it was to have another class with the Slytherins, I held my tongue to keep from explaining how similar the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor was to discrimination.

The moment I walked into the dungeons I could feel a set of eyes on me as my ears grew warm from the attention, I held my ground for a few steps as I was the one leading our small Gryffindor group and was in charge of finding a suitable table, but risked a glance towards Draco after I had started a path towards a table with four open seats. Draco was seated at a table with Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him like they seemed to always be, he was watching me with narrowed eyes so I averted my eyes from his filled up table and sat down on the Gryffindor side of the room. It was growing abundantly clear that he did not want to be friends inside of the classroom.

Professor Snape swept into the classroom a few minutes after the Gryffindors settled down and immediately began roll call. He was a tall man, with slick black hair and an unfortunately long nose, his robes flew around him every time he moved, making his dark appearance resemble more of a bat than a snake like his students, but it was made extra terrifying when I realized his eyes had to be a darker black than his hair or robes, resembling that of a tunnel. He went speeding through each name and sending dark looks to students that didn't add a "sir" to their "here" until he got to Harry's name which was given a four second pause.

"Ah, yes," Professor Snape says softly. "Harry Potter. Our new - _celebrity_." Across the room Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were sniggering at the clear spotlight being placed on the pale Harry next to me. Dean's name was called after a moment and the classroom went silent again.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Professor Snape explained in a low voice that made the dungeons creeper as everything else seemed to quiet down in order to hear him speak. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses" he took a moment to breathe deeply, but his words had already captured my interest before he went on with the rest of his speech. He spoke of potions like I was told I spoke about books, his passion for the aspect of the wizarding world that holds the least amount of magic fueled my wonderment for this class and wizarding skill. "... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The room held its breath after Snape's speech, and I sat up straighter in my seat as Snape's eyes roamed over our table once again. I was determined to prove I would be a student to be proud to have in his classroom, Head of Slytherin or not, he will enjoy having me as a student because I will be equally as passionate about potion making as he is, and eventually equally as skilled. Next to me Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows and were quickly caught by Snape.

"Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" I immediately recognized the flowers name as one of the flowers grown on Hogwarts School ground for potion classes and wormwood was used in the Muggle world as well as the Wizarding world in medicine; with those two facts I knew the answer right away and quickly raised my hand to show Professor Snape I was no dunderhead.

"I don't know, sir," Harry says lowly.

Snape's lips curl into a sneer. "Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything," Professor Snape said, the undertone insult clear to the rest of the class, and he ignored my raised hand. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" I could hear Draco's snicker as I raised my hand higher in the air, but I kept my face clear of any emotion besides eagerness to learn. The back of my neck grew red from not knowing if he was laughing at me or at Harry.

"I don't know, sir." Goat, Harry. It's the same as in the muggle world, it means antidote.

"Thought you wouldn't look at a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Snape sneered once again, openly embarrassing Harry in front of the class. Despite instincts telling me to stick up for Harry who had done nothing wrong, I stayed in my seat with my arm stiff in the air, just short of waving it. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?" He was making it too easy now, it was like true or false questions.

I stood up without much thought, stretching my hand as high as it could go in hopes of finally getting picked to answer these questions, he was going to have a class of dunderheads if he didn't allow the rest of us to learn. Now I could hear Crabbe and Goyle's snickering grow louder and knew they were laughing at me as well as Harry, Draco had stopped and out of the corner of my eye I could see him smirking but not laughing.

"I don't know," Harry said finally, purposely leaving off the "sir" this time. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you ask her?" I was grateful for all of three seconds for Harry pointing out that I knew the answers to these questions because the rest of the class let out hesitant chuckles at the remark Harry made, but Snape was not pleased.

"Sit down," Snape snapped at me, and I plopped down in my seat with my sore arm in my lap that I kept my eyes trained on for the rest of his speech. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?" The class filled with the sound of quills scratching on parchment, I stayed still as I had already written it down. "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

Snape put the class into pairs, keeping them within each house to avoid arguments, and sent us to mixing up The Cure for Boils, a remedy against pustules, hives, boils and many other scrofulous conditions. It was an easy enough potion to brew for the first class, and if brewed incorrectly the potion would only cause boils instead of cure them. While the class quickly learned where the cauldrons and ingredients were located, without the help of the Professor, Snape swept around in his black cloak, watching us as we weighed dried nettles, sliced Pungous Onions, and crushed snake fangs. Snape found a hard time criticizing the class, though he did try his hardest.

The rumors that he favored Slytherin and hated Gryffindor appeared to be true despite my inclination not to trust them, however it was undoubtable that Snape favored Draco. Despite each of us doing the exact same procedure the exact same way, which I was aware of because Draco chose to move his cauldron closer to mine and stand in front of me, Snape only praised his work and ignored mine and didn't say a thing when Draco didn't stir vigorously like the instruction said.

"You see, Mr. Malfoy understands how to stir gently as to not overexcite the Shrake spines and to stew his horned slugs perfectly." Professor Snape began, peering into Draco's cauldron while Draco stood up taller and made a face that was halfway between a grin and a smirk, Theodore Nott next to him looking rather put out at being blatantly ignored for his efforts.

Just then clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filed the dungeon. Snape's head whipped towards the source of the sound and smoke while I yelped and jumped when the soles of my shoes began to heat up. As commotion filled the classroom, a pale hand gripped my forearm and hauled me up onto the table before the incorrect potion could burn a hole in my shoe as it was others. The arm didn't release me and I turned to see Draco looking at the floor with a look of disgust, before we both turned to the sound of moaning in pain.

Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning almost everything it came in contact with. All of the class had managed to get atop their stools of tables, except Neville, who was drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed and was the one moaning in pain.

"Idiot boy!" Snape snarled, clearing the potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" Neville only managed to whimper in reply, causing Draco to snicker next to me. I shot him a dark look to which he replied with an apologetic one. "Take him to the hospital wing," Snape snapped at Seamus while the class began to climb back down to the floor, Draco hoped off the table but held his hand out to help me down. I rolled my eyes at the obvious attempt to make up for his actions, but accepted the help none the less. "You - Potter," Snape rounded on Ron and Harry who had chosen a cauldron farther away from me and Dean. "Why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

My jaw dropped at the obvious unfairness, Harry opened his mouth to argue but Ron kept him from doing so quickly.

The last ten minutes of class passed quickly as the rest of the class added the quills properly and waved our wands over the potion, when mine and Dean's was finished Professor Snape merely hummed in assessment and marked us down on his chart for doing it correctly. Dean went to talk to Seamus when he returned from the hospital wing so I stayed by the cauldron to look it over and take down some notes about what we had done and what happened to Neville. Draco finished just a minute after me, but remained at his table with Nott for the last minutes of class, once the bell rang the class emptied quickly, Slytherins and Gryffindors hurried to get away from each other and Snape sweeping out the door to make a report on a student getting harmed in his class.

Draco walked up to me without a word as I packed away my items slowly, not having anymore classes to attend to and not having anyone to meet up with. Snape had assigned a foot long essay on The Cure for Boils as a result of Neville messing it up, but I wasn't worried about it now. Once all of my belongings were packed away, I reached for my bag and Draco stepped in front of me to lead the way out of the classroom without a word. It was clear he wanted me to follow him without argument, and though I did want to discuss him ignoring me while around his friends, I followed without comment.

The path we were taking seemed random for the most part as he led us away from the damp dungeons, but once we reached the first floor it was obvious Draco had a destination in mind. We reached a corridor I hadn't been in before that was located close to the Great Hall, and off of it was two double doors the stretched from floor to ceiling that were wide open and revealing a library inside.


	8. Chapter 8

**In Between The Lines: Chapter Seven**

Draco's POV:

I walked into the Hogwarts library for the second time this week, looking around at its' massiveness and admiring the large collection. Mother had told me after I got my Hogwarts Letter about how much she admired the Hogwarts Library and had designed our library after it, but despite her efforts this library surpassed ours.

It took a few steps until I realized Hermione was no longer walking behind me so I turned around to tell her to hurry up, but stopped before I could snap at her.

She stood just outside the doorway of the library with her mouth agape and eyes wide as they ran from bookshelf to bookshelf and lifted high towards the ceiling to see the tops of the massive bookshelves. Her expression was that of awe and after she had taken it all in, a grin just as large as the bookshelves formed on her face and her eyes lit up with curiosity and excitement when they landed back on me. She skipped towards me and began to ramble about how amazing the library was and thanking me for showing it to her, I ignored her rambles for the most part as I steered her towards a table in the back of the library in the history section.

"I can't believe I didn't find the library earlier in the week," Hermione said once we settled into seats across from one another and have our books spread out to study. "I read all about it in "Hogwarts: A History," but getting to and from classes has been so stressful I forgot to look!"

"I found it the second day," I replied smugly, getting out a parchment to start on the potion's essay, Hermione started on her charms homework.

We work in comfortable silence for the rest of the day, occasionally commenting on something we found interesting in our research, but not making any other conversation. Once when I had to retrieve another book from the potion's section, Hermione asked if I would bring her back a book from the same section, when I returned with only my book she stared at me in shock, her mouth partly agape.

"How come you didn't get me a book too? I said please," Hermione asked when I took my seat.

"Exactly, Father says that you only say please when it is a question, you have to give an order to get what you want," I informed her.

She is quite for a moment but I can feel her stare on me. "That's not true at all, someone is much more likely to do as you ask, and do it correctly, if you use kindness instead of fear. All leaders that have led through fear have not done nearly as well as leaders who led through kindness, even in books! The White Witch was cruel and many of her followers followed her from fear of death but abandoned her when they saw that Aslan was alive."

"What are you going on about?" I snapped, irritated by her disagreement with mine and my father's beliefs.

"The Narnia series, in one of the books the villain is a witch who rules with fear and her counterpart rules with loyalty and kindness, just like in all the stories, the witch lost. I was just using it to show you that you shouldn't listen to what your dad said since its much more likely that you would get something you want if you're kind."

"And what have you gotten through being kind?" I raised my eyebrow at her. "Not the book you wanted, thats for sure."

She flushed at my comment but held her ground and matched my glare with her own. "I've gotten plenty of things from friends and family and strangers because I was kind to them, I'm sure you only get things because you're rich, not because you scare anyone."

"My father can scare them."

"It sounds like your dad is just a bully," she retorted.

"How dare you say that about my father!"

"Then what makes him not a bully? Is he kind or is he mean?"

"That's besides the point, I won't allow you to-"

"That's exactly the point, actually. You can't get mad at me about what I called your dad if it is the truth." She sat back in her chair after both of us had slowly risen up to get a word in. She leaned back, crossed her arms, and fixed me with a stare that told me she is waiting for me to find something good my father has done.

"There is nothing wrong with bullies, they are the strongest out of everyone," I defended my father, standing fully up to look down at Hermione.

"Bullies always loose in the end though." She got out of her chair and walked towards the potions section, I take the minutes she is away to cool down and think of more retorts to her accusations. Instead of her coming back to continue the argument, she quietly takes her place and begins writing her potions essay.

"My father is too powerful to loose anything," I told her, taking my seat.

"Okay."

"People respect him."

"Sure."

"He has influence in the ministry, he can do whatever he wants and not get in trouble."

"Alright."

I stayed quiet until dinner, watching her work on her essay while I mulled over my thoughts. She wasn't wrong when she said that those that ordered people around and a lot of people feared always lost in literature, but this was the real life, I believed my father could never fall down. Her one worded answers to my claims bothered me though, she was only acting like she was admitting defeat but I just knew she still thought my father was wrong. But for once Hermione was wrong and she just would never accept that.

With my inner conflict settled for the moment, I began gathering my things and announcing I was leaving for dinner. Fully expecting Hermione to pack her things up to join me, I was shocked again that she just lifted her to smile at me and say goodbye before returning to her homework. Her bookworm actions were beginning to grind on my nerves but I knew there was no way to convince her to stop her studies while she was in the middle of them so I returned the goodbye and left the library in favor of the Great Hall.


	9. Chapter 9

Draco's POV:

Though the first week at Hogwarts was not as eventful as I had hoped, with few classes with Hermione and lot of homework due, the next week made it all better when a notice was put up in the Slytherin Common Room that flying lessons would be Thursday, and even better the lesson was with Gryffindors. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were always the two houses with a surplus of muggle-borns and half-bloods, which meant less experienced flyers in Gryffindor and more people to show off to. Mother had taught me how to fly when I turned eight, she was a chaser on the Slytherin team when she attended Hogwarts, Father was a beater but Mother had more time on her hands as her only occupation was a House Wife.

I tried to talk to Hermione about the upcoming lessons, but she never wanted to talk about the flying aspect of it all, only facts about history, as per usual. The few times I managed to see her before Thursday, we were in the Library and the conversation consisted of my own stories of flying around the Manor and venturing past the wards into Muggle territory to see how they lived, and Hermione throwing in a random fact when she saw appropriate. She did listen keenly when I told her stories about flying away from a muggle group of kids that tried to chase me, laughing and admonishing me at the same time.

Finally the Thursday came and Slytherin and Gryffindor First years were sitting in the Great Hall across from each other, waiting not so patiently for the mail to arrive so we could get classes over with and head out to the Quidditch Pitch. When it finally did arrive, I made sure more than just Crabbe and Goyle took notice to the considerable size package Mother had sent me; Purebloods of a lower standing than Malfoys like to claim we reached our place in the hierarchy from cruelty, but my Mother was above such things and I didn't want anyone to think otherwise. After ensuring Pansy Parkinson had seen my mail, I discreetly handed the box filled with sweets to Goyle for him and Crabbe to eat later.

We walked around the Slytherin table and down the middle of the hall towards the doors, right past the Gryffindor table where Hermione was sitting with the first year boys in Gryffindor. Instead of looking up to wave, she was looking intently at Longbottom, and after a quick once over I saw that most students sitting at the part of the Gryffindor table was looking at Neville too. A barn owl, one of the cheaper pets, had landed in front of Neville with a small package from Mrs. Longbottom, Neville's Grandmother. Longbottom had already opened the package and was showing the table a glass ball the size of a large marble, filled with white smoke. It looked too expensive for a Longbottom to own.

"It's a Remembrall!" Longbottom explained to the table, gesturing wildly at the glass ball being smashed in his oversized hands. "Gran knows I forget things - this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red - oh..." As Longbottom was trying to show off his present, the ball began to change into a scarlet color. "you've forgotten something..." Stuttering to a stop, Longbottom began to brainstorm what he could have forgotten in time to give me an opportunity to get a closer look at the expensive looking ball in order to see if Father owned anything like it, or if it was worth asking for one myself, a better one of course, maybe bigger.

I snatched the ball from Longbottom's sweaty hands and held it up to look at, Potter and Weasley shooting up on the opposite side of the table to begin what could have been a fun bicker, but at the wrong moment, Professor McGonagall arrived out of thin air.

"What's going on?"

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor," Longbottom snitched, Potter and Weasley wearing matching smirks.

I scowled at the both of them and dropped the Remembrall back on the table, "Just looking." turning my back on the group of scowling Gryffindors and a frowning Hermione.

It wasn't until three-thirty that Flying Lessons was suppose to begin, but First Year Slytherins had a free period after lunch on Thursdays so we all went out to the Quidditch Pitch early to share stories of our first time we flew. Blaise was finishing his tale of riding into his mother's husband at the time's window and smashing it and everything inside the room he landed in. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under our feet as we watched the Gryffindors march down the slippery lawn towards us. Around us lay twenty of the schools pathetic broomsticks, although grouping these broomsticks into any category with the Nimbus 2000 was an insult to Devlin Whitehorn, the owner of Nimbus Racing Broom Company.

Madam Hooch arrived not long after the Gryffindors, who chose to stand a few feet away from our group of Slytherins, talking amongst themselves and occasionally sending glances to the brooms or us. Madam Hooch was a tall thin witch, who looked like she had been a Keeper in her years, she had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked upon arrival. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up." Once everyone was positioned next to a broomstick, Madam Hooch gave out instructions. "Stick out your right hand over your broom, and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" The class shouted.

My broom shot up into my hand and I looked around with a smirk that dropped when I saw Blaise and Potter had received the same results as me. In front of me. Hermione was deeply scowling as her broom had only rolled over, but it was better than Longbottom's, whose broom was in the same position as before. The students that were left empty handed were given a few more minutes to try to call to their broom before Madam hooch proceeded with the lesson, showing us how to mount our brooms.

I got on my broom and held on to the broom close to my legs, but when Madam Hooch walked by, she moved my hands higher on the broom, telling me this would enable me to turn the broom faster and more effectively. Down the line, Weasley and Potter snickered, but not long after I was snickering at them as Weasley got told to change his footing.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, then straight back down by leaning forward slightly." Madam Hooch told everyone, but I was zoning her voice out, already knowing how to kick off. Instead I was watching Hermione who was looking exceedingly nervous and shaky. I realized with a start, she hadn't said anything about flying herself, only flying in general. This was her first time flying. Pureblood children usually already knew how to fly, even Weasley knew some, it was odd that Hermione hadn't flown, and even weirder that she seemed so interested in Quidditch that she hadn't persisted her parents into buying her at least a training broom. "On my whistle - three - two-"

Before the whistle could sound, Longbottom, who was another Gryffindor Pureblood that had never flown before, kicked off from his nerves and shot into the air.

"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch shouted, but Neville was rising high, twelve feet, twenty feet. He looked ashen in the sky as he realized he couldn't get down, becoming paler than the clouds as he looked down at the ground. His large sweaty hands must not have been gripping the broom at the top like everyone knew they should, because after a moment of staring down at us, he was falling towards us. With a thud and a nasty crack, Longbottom landed in a heap back on the ground with his broom still rising in the sky, headed for the Forbidden Forest.

The Slytherins moved back as Gryffindors rushed to their fallen brethren, listening intently as Madam Hooch made the obvious diagnosis of a broken wrist. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing!" She shouted as she helped Neville to his feet and turned to the group of us with a stern face, for once, a teacher besides Professor Snape gave the Gryffindors the look instead of Slytherins. Though with a bunch of brooms and a bright, sunny day, I would assume Gryffindors would get in trouble too. "You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

I watched with a growing smirk as Longbottom hobbled into the castle, and once they were inside, I burst into laughter, the rest of the Slytherins joining in quickly.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" I said, eliciting another round of laughter.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati Patil snapped, sending me a dirty look that the rest of the Gryffindors were wearing.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" Pansy asked with a smirk that only a girl could pull off. "Never though _you'd_ like that fat little cry-baby, Parvati." As the Indian girl got red in the face at the assumption, I spotted the Remembrall laying on the ground by the Gryffindors feet.

"Look!" I said, dashing forward and grabbing the ball to get a look at it and see if it was broken. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

"Give that here, Malfoy," Potter said just above a whisper, making everyone stop and turn to the two of us. A week in and our year could already see the feud strengthening between Potter and I.

I smiled nastily, my eyes only on Potter so I couldn't see Hermione glaring at me and shaking her head. "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find - how about- up a tree?"

"Give it _here_!" Potter yelled, but I jumped on a random broom and shot into the sky before Potter could grab at me. I flew circles above the Gryffindors head, showing off my skills and grinned down at Hermione who was speaking to Potter angrily.

Potter joined me in the sky after a moment, riding and gliding through the air like he had been brought up in the wizarding world like he was suppose to, he was a bloody natural, the git. I was too stunned to move away as he rose to meet me, cheers from his House following him.

"Give it here or I'll knock you off that broom!" Potter threatened, and the anger behind it and my knowledge that Potter could do no such thing made me chuckle.

"Oh, yeah?" I mocked. But the threat wasn't empty, Potter leaned forward on the broom and shot towards me like a javelin. I swerved out of the way a millisecond before he could hit me and send us both falling to the ground. I moved away from him quickly, not sure how closely our natural skills were matched, and not wanting to find out while a teacher wasn't around to cushion our fall.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Potter called, flying back towards me.

Not wanting to chance a broken bone like Longbottom, or getting caught by a teacher, I wind back my arm and smirk. "Catch it if you can, then!" I shouted, and threw the ball high into the air and flew back to the ground to avoid getting caught.

I landed on the ground and threw the useless broom I had been using back in line in time for Professor McGonagall to run out of the castle. I began to snicker with the rest of the Slytherins, missing the hurt look Hermione was sending me.

"HARRY POTTER!"


	10. Chapter 10

**In Between The Lines: Chapter 8**

Hermione's POV:

Professor McGonagall briskly walked away from the group of first years with Harry following behind, looking like he was contemplating whether or not a silly ball of gas was worth getting thrown out of Hogwarts after two weeks. Draco and his gang of Slytherins were cheering at their good luck, Draco basking in the glory of winning and not getting caught at the same time. The Gryffindors were grumbling about how it was Draco that should have been caught, not Harry, but both of them should have been caught and disciplined for their careless actions. All the angry grumbles and boastful talking was making me flustered, so with a "humph" I walked away from the ruined flying lesson and back into the castle, hoping to find solitude in the library for a few hours before Draco came to find me.

All day I had seen Draco, watched him when he didn't take notice to me, and I was starting to see what Ron and Harry liked to complain about. He wasn't very nice to them, albeit Ron wasn't very nice to him either, and at least Draco was nice to me while Harry and Ron spent their time acting as though I didn't exist. Still, it wasn't right how Draco was treating the Gryffindors, picking on Neville, and ignoring the rules. Rules are put in place to be followed, not to be used when it benefits yourself and bent when you want to have fun. Neville and Draco were the only friends I had made in the wizarding world and Draco being my favorite friend of the two because him and I had more to talk about than Neville and I, but all the rules Draco liked to break and the taunting he kept doing with Harry wasn't something I wanted to be a part of.

I spent most of the afternoon in the library muling over my relationship with Draco. He didn't come looking for me until it was almost dinner time, it turned out he used the canceled lessons to continue boasting to the Slytherins about his success and he only came to find me to continue the boasting with a new audience.

"I think you should go to dinner now, Draco." I told him in the middle of his retelling of events that I had witnessed.

"I'm about to get to the best part!" He argued, earning a dirty look thrown at him from Madam Pince.

"I don't care about how you got Harry in trouble, or how you managed to break a dozen rules without getting punished for it. Honestly, you act as though what you did was more than two boys trying to be impressive." I huffed, placing my book down on the table and meeting Draco's red face with a stern one. "You both broke the rules, the only thing you should be celebrating was you had more brain cells than Harry and knew to get back down to the ground before a teacher could see you."

Draco narrowed his eyes and stood up from his chair across from me, grabbing his bag. "You're just a silly, rule following, know-it-all. I only came up here because I knew you would be alone because I'm you're only friend, but I have plenty of friends who like to talk about more than just stupid facts out of stupid books." With a scowl and a swish of his robes, Draco left the library.

Stunned by his harsh words, I leaned down on the table and covered my face in my arms to calm down and stop from crying. I wasn't use to direct insults like the ones Draco used, Ron always resulted to petty comebacks, or just ignoring me. He had called me a know-it-all under his breath a few times, but I had always been called a know-it-all. To shove the fact that no one liked me in my face, that hurt differently.

I convinced myself after a few calming breaths that Draco only said those things because I hurt his ego too, he just wanted to hurt me like I had even though I hadn't meant to hurt him. I left for dinner not long after Draco had, but kept my eyes fixed on the Gryffindor table instead of letting them drift to the Slytherin table to see what Draco was doing. When I sat down a few people away from Harry and Ron, across from Seamus and Dean, I was dismayed to see that Harry was not sulking from a punishment but rejoicing from a reward for his rule breaking. Apparently Professor Snape was not the only one who played favorites, but Gryffindors were just better at hiding it and more liked by Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. As Harry and Ron celebrated their good fortune, Ron's twin brothers, two known rule breakers also, came by to congratulate Harry. Apparently Harry being on the team was suppose to be a secret but they weren't trying to keep their voices down.

As Fred and George were leaving, I saw Draco and his two friends walk towards Harry and Ron, no doubt hoping to gloat further. I turned away from my food to watch the exchange, hoping Harry would let his fortune slip so Draco would stop his annoying act.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you." Harry cooly replied, looking between Crabbe and Goyle who could only crack their knuckles with the teachers sitting a few meters away at the High Table. They were scary eleven year olds, but I didn't understand what Harry was talking about, in a one on one match between Draco and Harry, I would put my money on Draco. Harry was only starting to gain some weight on his unusually small body that was a result to spending eleven years with his horrid aunt and uncle I heard him complain about to Ron, Draco on the other hand had been well taken care of, spoiled actually, and seemed capable of holding Harry down.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," Draco said as though he had been reading my thoughts. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact." It wasn't exactly what I had been picturing a moment ago, what Draco was picturing was much darker and riskier. Ron and Harry seemed to agree with me by their faces. "What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," Ron wheeled around in defense for his friends. "I'm his second, who's yours."

For the fastest moment, fast enough that I could have imagined it, Draco glanced my way in consideration, but his eyes landed on Crabbe and Goyle. He seemed to be sizing them up, brute strength-wise they had an excess but from the past two weeks I knew they were lacking in smarts. "Crabbe. Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room; thats always unlocked." The boys all nodded in agreement, then Draco and his friends walked away. I stood up to follow but couldn't help myself from stopping to speak to Harry and Ron.

"Excuse me." Both boys looked up to look at me, Harry looking curious while Ron looking extremely annoyed.

"Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" I ignored the red head and looked directly at Harry.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"

"Bet you could," Ron muttered.

"- and you mustn't go wandering the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you," I pleaded with Harry, aiming at his House pride to make him see sense.

"And it's really none of your business," Harry replied curtly.

"Good-bye." Ron rudely dismissed me.

I huffed and exited the Great Hall, hoping to track down Draco and at least talk sense into him. I saw him ahead of me, walking with Crabbe and Goyle, whispering to them.

"Draco!" I called out to him.

"What is it, Granger?" He asked, turning around with a sneer, Crabbe and Goyle flanking him.

"It's against the rules for students to duel."

"It's also against the rules for students to be out at midnight, but I plan to do that too."

"You're acting ridiculous, breaking all these rules to prove you're better than Harry. All it is going to result in is both of you getting each other into trouble or hurting one another. Besides, I don't think I want to be friends with someone who breaks the rules all the time."

"It's a good thing we aren't friends then, isn't it?" He smirked at my shocked expression, then turned and walked away.

 **Draco is such a prat when he is younger, so don't expect him to be nice, I'm sticking to their actually characters and I actually dislike young Draco.**


	11. Chapter 11

Draco's POV:

I was never going to go duel Potter and Weasley, I only wanted to get them in more trouble because it hadn't seemed like Potter got the proper punishment for disobeying Madam Hooch's orders. I didn't care about the rules myself, but I did care that Hermione cared about them, up until she tried to tell me off in front of my other friends.

Where did she get off telling me what to do anyway? I was a Malfoy and she was from some unknown pureblood family, the Weasleys were more well known than her family. I didn't need her telling me what to do and bringing me down in front of the people I was a leader of. If it had been Zabini or Nott, who didn't care about my standing either way, I may have let her know I wasn't planning on risking the House Cup, but it wasn't and she needed to be put in her place. She tried to talk to me the morning after, maybe to thank me for listening to her but I stuck to the Slytherins the whole day, and after that she got the message to leave me alone.

That morning, I also noticed Potter and Weasley were still cheerfully sitting at the Gryffindor table, and Gryffindor was up five points from yesterday, not down twenty like I had hoped for. The two of them sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, going from whispering to cheering to Weasley sending Hermione dirty looks. Hermione was once again sitting alone with Neville, who didn't seem in the mood for talking that morning.

I continued ignoring Hermione whilst watching her get ignored by her housemates also. The weeks dragged on and when it came out that instead of getting punished for flying without a teacher outside, Potter had been rewarded with the first position given to a first year in a century, the weeks dug the heels in the ground and refused to pass. Two months passed like this, and then Hogwarts was preparing itself for the famous Halloween feast.

The halls were filled with the smell of baking pumpkins all day, the only thing that could distract the first years from the delicious thoughts of the feast was Professor Flitwick's announcement that they would finally begin real wand work, such as making things fly. Immediately, I noticed Hermione was paired with her least favorite person, Weasley. Neither one of them looked too happy about it, but as she had done the past two months, Hermione ignored the red head and got straight to work. It was hard to tell who was more put out about the arrangement between the two.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" Professor Flitwick squeaked on his pile of books. "Swish and Flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too - never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."

Instead of making a spectacle of myself by doing something idiotic, like poking the feather with my wand and setting it aflame like one Gryffindor did, I looked around the room and watched to see what not to do before starting on my own. Blaise had already started, swishing and flicking his wand around the feather to no avail, but two tables in front of me I noticed Hermione had not attempted the spell yet and was trying to help Weasley, also to no avail.

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' sound nice and long." It was good advice, because whatever Weasley had been saying was obviously not the correct words.

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Weasley snarled at Hermione, narrowing his eyes at her while I narrowed my eyes at him.

Hermione did not back down from the challenge, despite everyone watching the argument between the two. She rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand with a swish, and clearly stated, " _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " The feather slowly began to rise off the desk and hovered four feet above everyone's head.

"Oh, well done!" Professor Flitwick cried, clapping and walking toward Hermione who kept eye contact with the feather to ensure it kept afloat. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"

While Flitwick awarded Hermione five points, Ron glared deeply at their shared feather, muttering things under his breath for the rest of the class. Hermione and I both wore smug expressions, though she didn't turn around to see mine. After class everyone herded into the crowded corridor, pushing and shoving their way to their next class. Hermione was directly in front of me, her books held tightly to her chest to avoid spilling them on to the floor, but it left her open for others to knock her around without the defense of her arms to stop herself from being moved. In front of her were the rest of her house mates, all of which were listening to Weasley complain about Hermione.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare, honestly." I watched as Hermione's back goes rigid, then she dashed past everyone and headed in the opposite direction of her next class.

"I think she heard you," Potter informed Weasley.

"So? She must've noticed she's got no friends."

With those words ringing in my ears, I stopped dead in the hallway and watched the Gryffindors make their way to the Transfiguration class room and the Slytherins make their way to History of Magic. I had promised her we would stick together in Hogwarts, I had given my word and above all else Father always said that a man's worth is dependent upon their word. We may not agree on everything, there seemed to be a growing possibility that she was either half-blood or from a pureblood family like the Weasleys that liked Muggles, but she was my first real friend and I wasn't going to loose that.

I rushed past everyone that had just passed me, turned down the corridor Hermione had and ignored the curious glances or the warning that the next class was starting soon. I knew exactly where she was running to so I slowed my pace to stop from arousing suspicion from other students who had a free period this period that may ask why I wasn't in class.

The library was empty for the most part, save for a few Ravenclaws and Slytherins here and there, so I slowly made my way to the back of the Library, the opposite side of the restricted section where the History of Magic textbooks are located. The closer I got to that section, the more I heard sniffles and muffled sobs coming from it so I picked up my pace.

Huddled in a corner, with her books askewed around her and her bag leaning on her legs, Hermione was huddled in the corner, breathing deeply and talking to herself to try to calm herself down. "Neville's your... friend... Ron's stupid... you're a witch..." Between words her body would shudder with a repressed sob and I couldn't tell what she was trying to tell herself.

"Hermione?" I stepped around the bookcase I was hidden behind and watched her head snap up. Her hair went everywhere like it usually did, but pieces of it stayed plastered to her tear tracks, with her hair a mess and her eyes and face reddening, Hermione didn't look particularly sane just then.

"Go away!" She snapped, more venom in her voice than usual. "Gloat on another day, Malfoy." She buried her head back in her arms and waited for me to leave. I almost did, I even turned around and took a few steps because Hermione was being difficult and I just wanted to help, there was no reason for her to snap at me. Then I realized she had every reason to be just as upset with me as she was with Weasley, so I turned back around and settled myself on the floor in front of her. "I said go away," Hermione's muffled voice called from under her hair.

"No." She didn't say anything else, so we just sat on the floor. Occasionally I could hear a hiccup from Hermione calming down, but she seemed to have stopped sobbing after a few minutes. "I'm sorry I said you weren't my friend."

Hermione lifted her head and rubbed her face on her sleeves, pushing back her hair and looking me in the eye. "We aren't friends, Draco. You won't talk to me in front of the Slytherins and I don't really want to talk to you in front of the Gryffindors because you're mean to them and they already don't like me."

"They only don't like you because they won't get to know you, because you intimidate them with your knowledge," I tried to reassure her, ignoring the truths in her statement.

"No, I annoy them, I've always annoyed my classmates."

"You don't annoy me." She gave me a look that said she didn't believe me so I chuckled, because she did annoy me. "It's not a horrible annoyance, you just like books a lot. More than the average Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaws aren't known for their love of books, they enjoy learning and puzzles, I doubt you could find a Ravenclaw that could recite a quote from a textbook for you."

"Good to know," I said in a light tone which made Hermione chuckle, but the smile fell quickly and she placed her chin on her arms and looked down at the floor. "You're my friend, Granger, and you have Neville too, and more people will start to like you too because you're a likable person."

"I am?" She whispered, glancing up then back down.

"Yeah." Silence filled the air, and it made me feel uncomfortable so I stood up and looked around. "So stop crying and go clean yourself up, you can't miss the Halloween feast, Mother said it can rival the Welcoming feast."

"I'm not really hungry," She mumbled.

"Well you will be when you smell it so hurry up." I bent down and pulled at her arm but she leaned away and got up on her own.

"Fine, but I'm going to the girls bathroom first. I'll see you later," Hermione told me, bending down and cleaning up the mess she made with her books, avoiding my eye. Assuming she was simply embarrassed about crying in front of me, I nodded and told her to hurry, then left the Library, I hoped the Halloween feast would be good enough to make up for a bad two months.


	12. Chapter 12

**In Between The Lines: Chapter 12**

Hermione's POV:

November arrived and with it came Quidditch, something the others seemed to like much more than I did. Ron taught Harry and I all about the current professional quidditch teams, raving about the Chudley Cannons, his favorite team, but Draco told me the Cannons weren't very good. Aside from talking about the competing teams outside of Hogwarts, Ron and Harry talked a lot about the Hogwarts teams and what the Gryffindor team was planning for the first game. After every practice, which was beginning to take place every night, Harry would stumble up to the Common Room and give Ron and I a recount of what the practice was over, and the two boys would go on for the next hour discussing each play. After the first week of being friends with the two boys, I figured out that most of the time Harry was just acting like her knew what Ron and I were talking about, so I told him to check out Quidditch Through the Ages from the library to learn more about his new favorite sport.

For my part, I didn't see much of the appeal to Quidditch, or flying in general. Why everyone wanted to hover hundreds of feet above the air, on a flimsy stick that could break at any moment, was beyond my comprehension. For the most part, when I got sick of Ron and Harry talking about Quidditch, I took refuge in the Library where I spent time with Draco who didn't talk about flying nearly as much as the boys do. He did like to talk about the boys a lot however.

"I don't understand why you had to become friends with _them_." Draco would complain whenever Harry or Ron got brought up in a conversation. "You hated them for three months and now they're basically you're best friends."

"They saved me from a troll. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them." Was always my reply, and then I would do my best to steer the conversation far away from Harry and Ron.

With a Weasley and the Boy-Who-Lived as friends, it seemed like people could put up with my annoying tendencies a lot more, and more people would talk to me in and out of class now. However because I befriended his enemy, Draco refused to hangout with me outside of our corner of the Library or when we saw each other in the corridors and Harry was at practice and Ron was watching. I always made sure to make plans to see Draco though, because he was my first best friend and just because I now had two more best friends didn't mean I was going to forget about Draco just like he didn't forget about me. He said that he didn't hangout with me in public because he didn't want Harry and Ron to turn their backs on me just because I'm his friend, but I knew there was another reason too. Being Harry and Ron's friend just gave him an excuse, but he had avoided me in public before I was their friend.

Aside from Quidditch, the other topic Harry and Ron liked to talk about was Professor Snape. Harry was determined that Snape was out to get him, and only him, a theory with a growing pile of evidence with every new Potions class, however Harry's theory that Snape was trying to steal something guarded by the three headed dog on the third floor was ridiculous. Ron ate up Harry's theories, especially after Harry discovered Snape had been bit by one of the dog head during our Troll encounter, but I withheld judgement until there was more proof. Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the staff trusted Professor Snape, and despite wanting to dislike him as a person, I trusted him as a teacher. Ron was still mulling over the theory as we walked down to the Quidditch Pitch for Harry's first game.

At eleven o'clock the whole school appeared to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. As Ron led the way to the Gryffindor section, I noticed many students holding binoculars. The seats were raised high in the air, but Ron said it will still be difficult to see what was going on at times. As we made our way up the stairs, I saw Draco walking with the dark skinned Slytherin boy that was last to be called to the Sorting Hat. He saw me catch sight of him and nodded in my direction with an almost smile, I waved back then hurried up the rest of the stairs.

Ron and I took seats with Seamus, Neville, and Dean, I sat in between Dean and Ron, feeling comfortable with Dean because he had never seen a Quidditch match either. The surprise we had prepared for Harry over the past week while he was away at practice was ready to be spread of the side of the seats, it was a large banner on one of the sheets that Ron's rat, Scabbers, had ruined that read "Potter for President." Dean, who was the best at drawing in our year, had drawn a large Gryffindor lion underneath the words and with a charm I read about in a book, I made it so that the paint flashed different colors.

After a few minutes, each team was walking on to the field far bellow us. I cupped my hands around my eyes to block out the sun but I still couldn't see anything that was going on down there until I saw all of the players mount their brooms, then a second later a loud whistle from Madam Hooch sounded and everyone was taking to the air.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too-"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor," Lee Jordan's voice rang around the stadium. He was in Ron's twin brothers' year, a Gryffindor and friends with the Weasley twins. Ron didn't know why he didn't play Quidditch but he did know that Lee had been commentary for every Quidditch game since he was a First Year, it seemed that even the Slytherins got a kick out of his antics because I could see them laughing along with everyone else.

"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve - back to Johnson and - no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle. Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes - - Flint flying like an eagle up there - he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by the Gryffindor Keeper Wood and the Gryffindors take the Quaffle - - that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and - OUCH - that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger - Quaffle taken by the Slytherins - that's Adrain Pucey speeding off toward the goalposts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger - sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which - nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes - she's really flying - dodges a speeding Bludger - the goalposts are ahead come on, now Angelina - Keeper Bletchley dives - misses- GRYFFINDOR SCORES!"

The Gryffindor side of the field erupted in cheers that sounded similar to roars, on the other side, the Slytherins moaned.

"Budge up there, move along." A booming voice could be heard over the cheering and Ron and I turned to see the Games Keeper making his way through the crowded stands, the younger students looking like play dolls next to him.

"Hagrid!" Ron and I called out, moving closer together to make room for the half-giant.

"Bin watchin' from me hut, but it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd," Hagrid explained, patting a pair of binoculars hung around his neck. "No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?"

"Nope," Ron informed him. "Harry hasn't had much to do yet."

"Kept outta trouble, though, that's somethin'."

I couldn't have agreed more. The atmosphere of watching your team play and win was addicting and made adrenaline run through my body, but watching my House Mates many meters above the ground, throwing balls at each other and knocking into each other was nerve wracking. I was glad Harry was hovering high above it all and glad Ron and Draco weren't allowed to play yet.

Suddenly a Bludger was flying right at Harry who managed to move out of it's way just in time, one of Ron's twin brothers was flying past and hit the nasty ball towards the Slytherin team who had possession of the Quaffle.

"Slytherin in possession, Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the - wait a moment - was that the Snitch?" Some were saying they had seen it some were complaining that they saw nothing, but I was watching the players, who all seemed to freeze in the middle of their game to watch the two Seekers race towards where the Golden Snitch must be, neck and neck. Harry can fly faster than Higgs and is pulling ahead, almost reaching his hand out, then suddenly -WHAM.

Marcus Flint, the captain of the Slytherin team, flies in front of both seekers and runs straight into Harry, nearly knocking Harry from his Broom and sending him spiraling down a couple of meters until he can right himself. All around me, the Gryffindors were joining me in yelling at the nasty foul play.

"Send him off, ref! Red card!" Dean was yelling on the other side of Hagrid.

"What are you talking about, Dean?" Ron asked, forgetting the lesson Dean had given him on football.

"Red card!" Dean said furiously, waving his fists around. "In football you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"

"But this isn't football, Dean." Ron reminded him, but Hagrid agreed with Dean.

"They oughta change the rules. Flint coulda knocked Harry outta the air." There was a murmur of agreement from those in the stands around us, the Gryffindors still on edge from the foul play, including Lee Jordan who was finding it hard to not pick sides.

"So - after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating -"

"Jordan!" we could all hear Professor McGonagall trying to calm Jordan down.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"

"Jordan, I'm warning you-"

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play. Gryffindor still in possession."

As the game continued on, I kept one eye on Harry and the other on the players. As one of the Gryffindor Chasers tried to score a goal, a Bludger got hit towards Harry again, but he dodged it with a bit more of a jerk than he did before. I turn back to the game as Slytherin took possession but looked back up at Harry when Hagrid pointed out something wrong with his broom.

"Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing," Hagrid mumbled. Everyone around us looked up to see Harry flying in a zig-zag motion, making movements that made it look as though he was about to fall off. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom... but he can't have..."

Everyone started glancing up at Harry now, mumbling about what he was doing or if there was something wrong with the broom. He was now being rolled by his broom, just barely managing to hold on. After a few minutes the whole crowd gasped as the broom gave a wild jerk and Harry swung off. He was now dangling from it by one hand.

"Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?" Seamus muttered, the crowd going quieter as the game played on and Harry tried to get a grip on his broom.

"Can't have." Hagrid dismissed Seamus's comment with a shaking voice. "Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark Magic - no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand."

My eyes went wide at the mention of Dark Magic. I snatched Hagrid's binoculars and began searching the crowd for the pitch that the Professors sat in, hoping Harry had been wrong all along, but if none of the students could do it, it had to be a teacher.

"What are you doing?" Ron moaned, grey-faced.

"I knew it," I gasped, shoving the binoculars into Ron's hands. "Snape - look."

Snape was in the middle of the stands opposite the Gryffindor stands. He had his eyes fixed on Harry, without blinking, and was muttering nonstop under his breath.

"He's doing something - jinxing the broom," I informed Ron, already moving out of my seat.

"What should we do?" Ron frantically asked.

"Leave it to me," I said with more confidence than I had. I knew what to do, and knew I had to do it because if Ron came along we would surely get caught.

I disappeared into the crowd, pushing and shoving my way through the throngs of people looking up at the sky. I didn't dare look back up at Harry as I raced below the stands to avoid the crowds and to get to the other side of the stadium quicker. Once I reached the proper pitch, I took the stairs two at a time, racing up them as fast as my feet could take me. I raced along the row behind Snape to hide myself, not bothering to apologize to Professor Quirrell when I knocked into him and he went head first into the row in front. Once I reached Snape, I crouch down, pulled out my wand, and whispered the correct incantation. The bright blue flames of Bluebell Flames shot from my wand on to the hem of Snape's robes.

It took almost a full minute for Snape to realize he was on fire, yelping as he did. I scooped the heatless fire into the jar I kept on me and ran from the seen, certain no one had seen me. I rushed from the stands and made my way to the nearest balcony to see Harry right himself in the air, clambering back on his broom. Just as soon as he was back on the broom, he was speeding towards the ground as fast as he could, until he suddenly let go of the broom a few feet above the ground and put his hand over his mouth as though he was going to be sick. He landed on the ground on all fours, coughed, and something gold fell into his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" Harry shouted from the ground, holding up the damp, flying ball for everyone to see. There was a second of confusion, a bit of murmurs wondering if that was legal, than the place erupted in cheers and the game was finished with Gryffindors winning, one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

On my way back to the Gryffindor pitch to find Ron and Hagrid to wait on Harry, I ran straight into Draco who was grumbling behind the rest of his friends. He straightened me to keep us both from falling but didn't meet my eye as he glared at the ground.

"Potter didn't catch the snitch, he almost swallowed it," Draco complained, put out that his team lost to Harry.

"He still chased after the snitch before your Seeker did." I pointed out, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing. "It's just a game, don't let it ruin your day." I told him, though I couldn't keep the grin off my face either.

"Just wait till I can join the team next year," Draco said, the thought getting rid of the glare on his face and replacing it with a smirk. "Potter won't know what hit him."

"But how will I know who to root for?" I joked, crossing my arms.

"The winning team of course, though if you're going to wear green I'd suggest sitting close to the Slytherins." I laughed at his serious expression, then heard my name being called. Draco and I turned to see Ron waving at me, then dropping his arm when he saw who I was talking to, confusion took over his expression.

"Better go before he gets too red in the face." I joked with Draco who was glaring at Ron now. "I'll see to later or tomorrow?" I asked, already walking away.

"Yeah." Draco turned and caught up with the Slytherins as I caught up with Ron. Hagrid was standing a few meters away near the exit of the Gryffindor locker room.

"Why were you talking to Malfoy?" Ron demanded once I was close enough he didn't have to yell.

"We were discussing the game, why do you care?" I countered

"Because he is a Slytherin and a Malfoy."

"And you're a Gryffindor and a Weasley," I said like it didn't matter but Ron made a face like I had just proved his point. "Come on, Harry just came out, we gotta tell him about Snape."

Christmas was fast approaching, and seemed to pop up from no where. Now that I was no longer left to sit by myself in the Common Room and had people to talk to inside and out of my House, time seemed to go by faster, one day the leaves were falling and the next the students of Hogwarts were waking up to several feet of snow and a frozen solid lake. Students took advantage of the winter weather by skating on the lake, playing in the snow, and having intense snow ball fights, the Weasley twins had even been punished for bewitching a couple of snowballs to follow Professor Quirrell around and bounce of the back of his turban. I took to playing in the snow with the Gryffindors and skating with Draco, who had a lake near his house like I did and we were both evenly match for skating while Harry and Ron were not, but playing in the snow was much more fun with Gryffindors.

I couldn't be more excited about going home and seeing my parents, though I was going to miss my friends, I wanted to share what I learned in the Magical World with my parents. Ron and Harry were staying at school for the holidays, Ron's parents were going to visit his older brother and Harry wanted to stay away from his unpleasant relatives for as long as possible.

Though the weather was fun, it made the large castle drafty and outside of the Common Room and Great Hall, the corridors and lot of the classrooms were unpleasant. During Potions class we could see our breath mist in front of us, I didn't see how all of the Slytherins hadn't caught a cold but Draco assured me that even though it was located under the lake, the Slytherin Common rooms and dormitory were kept at a nice temperature.

Since the Quidditch match, Draco had given Harry and Ron even more reason to complain about him, and each time they did I was sure Ron would make the complaints louder to ensure I heard them. Under different circumstances I would have hated whomever Harry and Ron hated simply on principle because they were my best friends and thats what best friends do, but this was Draco so I tried to stay out of the feud going on between the three of them, switching topics whenever one of them brought the other one up. A couple of times I suggested to Draco to stop trying to bait Harry, but he would simply go on a rant about why he believed he was justified and why he believed Harry was terrible and above all how he could not see how I could stand to be there friends. Some how I managed to be all three of their friends, though only Draco knew that.

Ron hadn't brought up the fact that he had seen Draco and I conversing after the Quidditch match civilly, but for the days after it he had insisted on going where I went in an effort to see if I was going to meet with Draco. Draco told me to let Ron believe I wasn't Draco's friend, that way I wouldn't be pulled into a tug of war between the three of them, so I went a week without properly seeing Draco and then Ron dropped the whole security guard act and took to ensuring I thought bad things about Draco. For his part, Draco simply thought Ron's antics were funny and didn't seem threatened, he was confident I would choose him if forced to choose.

As we were leaving our last lesson of potions for the semester, a large fir tree was blocking the corridor up ahead with two large feet sticking out the bottom and large puffs of hair coming behind it.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked sticking his head through the branches to get a word to Hagrid. I refrained from chuckling at the notion of a first year helping a half giant carry a tree through the halls of Hogwarts.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Draco's cold drawl sounded behind us. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what you're family's used to." I snapped my mouth shut from saying anything in Ron's defense, knowing that will put Draco in a position to have to say something to me in front of his friends who were glaring at me just like they were glaring at Harry. Ron however did not have an ounce of self-control and flung himself at Draco just as Snape was walking up from the Dungeons.

"WEASLEY!" Ron immediately dropped the front of Draco's robes, Draco seemed exceptionally pleased with himself and I had a feeling he knew his God-Father was walking up the steps behind him.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," Hagrid informed Snape, but Snape didn't look to be listening. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid. Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along all of you." Draco, Crabbe and Goyle walked past the tree, ruffling branches as they went to spread needles along the floor, smirking as they went.

"I'll get him," Ron said, grinding his teeth at Draco's back, a certain glint in his eye. "One of these days, I'll get him -"

"I hate them both," Harry added. "Snape and Malfoy." I could feel a Slytherin bashing session about to begin and didn't have it in me to change the topic before it could begin, nor could I find a reason to since I hated Snape too and Draco was being childish.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," Hagrid stopped the bashing before it could really begin. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

I spent almost the rest of the afternoon with Harry and Ron in the library after we had left Hagrid, searching for Nicholas Flamel. Harry kept bringing up that he had read about the wizard somewhere, but couldn't remember where, but I hadn't found that likely because the name didn't ring any bells to me and I had read all the books Harry had and more. We persisted despite having no luck and I made the boys promise to continue looking over the break.

On the way back to the Common Room, I left the boys under the pretense that I forgot something back at the library. Draco had promised to meet me in the library tonight as it was the last night we would see each other, though he said I could sit with him on the train tomorrow so we weren't saying goodbye.

Once back at the library, I ignored the look Madam Pince sent my way and headed to the back of the library where our usual table is. Draco was already there when I got there, leaning back in his chair with a smug look on his face and his feet on the table.

"What did you do now?" I asked upon seeing his smug expression.

"Nothing, I'm just happy to be going home and get out of this bloody castle," Draco replied, moving his feet to the floor and watching me collapse into the chair in front of him.

"What's wrong with Hogwarts? It's fantastic."

"And has a lot of useless rules."

"The rules are put in place to keep us safe and keep us educated about magic. Besides, its not as though you can use magic outside of Hogwarts, it's illegal." Draco scowled when he remembered that I was right, but he changed the topic to cover it up.

"What are you doing over the holidays?" He placed his feet back up on the table but I knocked them down because they were too close to my face.

"Spending time with my parents and family, we'll probably go skating and skiing at some point, and go see my grandparents on Christmas. What about you?"

"Staying at the Manor, I may have Zabini or Nott over, but probably not."

"What do you do at the Manor?" I asked, he had brought up his home a few times and when he did it always sounded like a true mansion, close to a castle.

"Not much, I'll spend most of the break with Mother." I nodded, not sure what to say. He was excited to go home, but it didn't sound like it was going to be too exciting.

"You were pretty nasty to Ron today," I said casually, testing the waters.

Draco rolled his eyes and put his feet on the table once again. "I was merely stating the facts, besides you were all blocking the way."

"That was hardly our fault, and you have no way of knowing how big the Weasley's house is, from the way he talks about it, it sounds magnificent to live in." I countered, roughly pushing his feet to the floor this time. "Just because some of us don't live in mansions doesn't mean that we are lesser than you, Malfoy."

He raised an eyebrow at my tone and chuckled. "Don't get your knickers in a bunch, Granger, I was hardly implying that. There is a rivalry between Weasleys and Malfoys, I'm sure you hear bad things about me from Weasley, do you tell him off for saying them even though they are true?"

"I do if they are bad or I would if he said them in front of you and made you mad."

Simply because the conversation may have been heading down an emotional path, Draco rolled his eyes, conceded, and changed the topic to skiing, asking what it was. We talked until it was almost curfew about random, neutral topics, then Draco walked me to the seventh floor but not to the Fat Lady's painting. We bid goodnight and Draco promised to wait for me at the back of the train in the morning.


End file.
